The Road to Wimbledon
by marsupial1974
Summary: AU. Emily and Katie have been playing tennis since they were six, Naomi and Cook are ready to take the tennis world by storm. When they meet and become a team, how long will it take before the lines become blurred? With Emily and Naomi both gunning to be the Women's Wimbledon champion, will they be able to stay just friends? Other Gen 2 characters will be making appearances.
1. Meet The Fitches

**A/N: Okay, this is my attempt at writing! At the insistent urgings of GloryMorgan and garden-nomes, I'm giving it a go. I've also gotta give shout outs to Crevette, SkinsFanatic, Michelle1017, jaybonesss23, mynameislizzie and the ever B/A scriptmanip...Any typos and grammatical errors are all mine! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Skins in any way, shape or form. But you probably already know that;) but if I did...**

**Chapter 1: Meet the Fitches**

"Come on!" Was shouted, loudly across the training facility. "You're not even trying!"

Every head turned to look at the imposing woman standing at the side of court three. She stood tall and straight, as the two players stopped what they were doing, to come to the net and wait for her instructions.

"I don't know how many times I have to explain to you that you have to compensate for your small statures, by being faster, working harder and by just being better than everyone else." She barked out, shaking her head. "I didn't work this hard to watch the two of you fail now!" With that, Jenna Fitch stormed away from the court, leaving her bewildered and slightly embarrassed daughters staring after her.

"Fucks sake! You'd think now that we're older, she'd stop yelling at us in public." The oldest, Katie, said under her breath, for only her sister to hear.

"Right, and give up her control?" the youngest, Emily, replied looking at Katie. "You know that's why she does it."

"I know you're right, but Mum is a total bitch!" Katie spat out, as she gathered her equipment and stuffed her racquets into her bag. "I'm gonna go back to the house." She looked at her sister when she didn't get a response. Emily was just standing there, looking at something across the facility. "Emily? Hello? Snap out of it, you fuckin' twat!" Katie waved her hand in front of Emily, finally getting her attention.

"What?" Emily asked, making Katie laugh.

"You're starting to drool." Katie stated with a smirk. "Really, Emsy? Checking out the competition?"

Emily grinned at her. "I'm just looking, is all." She said, innocently, before breaking out into laughter.

"Yeah, well make sure that's all you do." Katie told her. "This is our shot at Wimbledon, and I'm not gonna watch you blow it, just because you can't keep it in your knickers!" She stood up and looked at her twin sister. "And besides, if Mum ever finds out, she'll totally freak out."

"Yes Katie, I know. No need to remind me." Emily muttered as she grabbed her own equipment and her stuff.

Both girls headed into the main building, away from the practice courts, in silence. Neither girl noticed the looks that received from the people around them. They had gotten used to people staring at them years ago. Once the novelty of them being twins wore off, people started to see them as two different people, instead of one person. The similarities ended at their physical attributes. While both of them were natural brunettes, Emily had taken it upon herself to dye her hair red. It was her small way of breaking away from the stigma of being Katie's sister.

Katie and Emily Fitch had been playing tennis since the first time Emily had picked up one of her mum's racquets and hit Katie upside the head with it, for taking her football away from her. Their parents immediately enrolled them into tennis lessons at the tender age of six, all because of Emily's powerful backhand that left string impressions on Katie's face for three days. For the last fifteen years, the Fitch twins have slowly made a name for themselves under their mother's watchful eyes.

They had grown up stronger than most girls their age, but it's not that they were overly muscular. They had definitely benefited from their dad's gym. Jenna had pushed them hard to be the best, not even stopping for a minute to see if that's what her daughters wanted. In the Fitch household, it's Jenna's way or no way.

* * *

_Jenna had been a rising star in the tennis world herself when she was younger. At nineteen, she had won her first Grand Slam, the Australian Open and was ranked at number five in the world. She had made it to the finals at the French Open, when her tennis career ended tragically._

_Jenna ended up in a tough match against the number one ranked player to decide the Women's Champion, when she over extended herself trying to return a volley, landing just right to break her arm in four places, dislocating her shoulder and shattering her collarbone. It had taken two years until everything was completely healed, but Jenna worked hard trying to keep her dreams alive. During that time, she had started working with a young trainer to help get her back into form._

_Robert Fitch had taken over his fathers' gym when he was twenty-five. He had big plans for the gym, turning it into the place to go to for sports training. When Jenna came to him for help, he agreed because he remembered how good she once was. At one time, she was slated to win the Women's Wimbledon Championship._

_After months of working together, the two fell in love and got married. Jenna tried to get back into the sport, but was unable to perform as she did before the accident. At first she was heartbroken that her career was over, but then she found out she was pregnant. When Katie and Emily came into the world, Jenna's life changed. She found that she couldn't be angry or bitter about what had happened, because without the accident, she wouldn't have Rob and the twins and Jenna realised that she was okay with life just as it was._

_Once the girls were old enough, they started entering Junior's tournaments. Katie and Emily were an excellent doubles team. They complemented each other on the court, but it was in the single competitions, that Emily was able to outshine Katie, causing a bit of friction between the girls._

_When they turned fifteen, Katie discovered two very important things. The first thing being the fact that her and Emily would never grow past 5'3, making it that much harder to compete against some of the more elevated girls. And the second thing being that her sister was well on her way to becoming a walking cliché! Really Emsy? As if Katie didn't notice Emily, when she would check out the other girls in the locker rooms._

_Katie called Emily out on her sexuality when they turned sixteen. They had decided to take themselves out, so they snuck into a club, ordered their first drinks and proceeded to get royally pissed. Somewhere around the tenth shot, Katie finally plucked up the courage to ask Emily about it._

_"So Emsy, are you like, a full on muff monkey?" Katie, so delicately asked, causing Emily to spew her shot of very expensive tequila, all over the table._

_Emily's eyes went wide as she looked at her sister. "What?" she finally blurted out. "Where did you get an idea like that?" she asked, nervously._

_"Like I wouldn't notice?" Katie scoffed as she flagged down a waitress. After ordering a ridiculous amount of vodka shots, because they were cheaper than the tequila, and getting a towel to wipe off the table, she looked her sister in the eye. "I can tell, Emily." She said and watched as Emily broke into tears. Katie just held her and let her cry._

_Emily confessed everything to Katie that night. Which hadn't been as bad as Emily thought it would be. The older twin was surprisingly accepting of it. They both agreed that it was something they wouldn't mention to their mum just yet because, if the truth be told, Jenna would freak the fuck out!_

* * *

Emily and Katie were deep into a discussion about how to approach their mum about the upcoming Eastbourne International tournament, as they entered through the gate that led up to their house, they ran into their dad.

"There's my beautiful girls!" He enveloped them into one of his "Fitch Hugs", effectively squishing the air from their lungs.

"Dad! Can't…breath.." Emily gasped out, making him release them. "Thanks Dad. I thought for sure I was gonna die." Emily said with a smirk.

"Right. Sorry 'bout that, love. Just wanted to say hello." He grinned. "How'd practice go today?"

"Well, it would have been great if Mum would remember that we're not twelve anymore." Katie huffed out. "Seriously, Dad, she's getting worse."

"I'm sorry, love. I'll have a word with her about it." Rob told her, sounding a bit disappointed. It bothered him, the way Jenna had become the last few years. It seemed all she did was push the girls harder than ever. He knew why, but that didn't excuse it. He made a mental note to talk to her about it later, but now, he had an appointment to get to.

He gave the girls a kiss. "I will talk to her, I promise, but now I've got to meet up with my friend, Kieran." He explained, checking his phone for the time. "I'll be back later."

"Bye Dad." They called out, in unison, laughing as they both noticed. They headed into the house, and made their way upstairs. The girls didn't share a room anymore, but their rooms were connected by an en suite.

"I'm gonna hit the shower." Emily announced as she made her way toward the bathroom. Before she could get three feet from the door, Katie flew into the bathroom and slammed Emily's door, locking it. "Katie! What the fuck?" she yelled through the door, slapping her palm against the wood.

"Sorry, but I have a date in forty-five minutes!" Katie hollered back, over the sound of running water.

"Fucking bitch." Emily muttered to herself, as she went to sit on her bed. "You'll need longer than that to get ready!" She shouted out, knowing that Katie wouldn't be able to hear her.

Twenty minutes later, when Katie opened the door, letting out a cloud of steam, Emily still hadn't moved from her spot on the bed, completely knackered after today's training.

"Do you plan on doing anything tonight?" Katie asked her loudly, as she searched her closet for the perfect outfit. She was going out with their agent's assistant, Marcus. He was well fit and fun to be around, but she did worry about Emily. She found what she was looking for and came into Emily's room.

"Nope! Just gonna take a bath and then go to sleep." Emily said with a yawn.

"Come on, Emsy, you should get out and enjoy yourself." Katie stopped what she was doing to look at Emily. "I hate leaving you alone so much."

Emily stood up, walked into her sister's room, giving her a hug. "I know you do, but I'm fine, Katie. I promise." She left Katie alone and walked back into the bathroom, closing the door softly.

While Katie finished getting ready, Emily drew herself a bath. As she waited for the tub to fill, she thought about what Katie had said. Emily did find herself alone a lot, but it only bothered her a bit. For the most part, she had training to worry about, and that left very little time for anything else. The whole conversation with Katie brought up a lot of things to think about. Emily was lost in her thoughts, as she gently lowered herself into the tub.

* * *

_Emily was fourteen when she first noticed her attraction to girls. Shortly after she turned fifteen, her best friend at the time, a girl by the name of Hillary Stevenson, kissed her during a study session in the deserted library. To say Emily was shocked was an understatement, but she soon got over it when she remembered that she could actively participate in what became a very heated lip lock! Emily had never felt anything as good as kissing Hillary and she found that she never wanted it to end, but the need for oxygen forced them to part. As they both replenished the air in their lungs, Emily stared at her friend._

_"Wow!" She said, breathlessly. "That was...intense." _

_Hillary just continued to look at Emily, as if she had discovered a new world. Before Emily could take another breath, Hillary's lips were firmly attached to hers again. Their snogging session went on, until the sound of the library doors opening brought them back into reality and they broke apart rather abruptly, causing them to giggle._

_"Let's get out of here, yeah?" Hillary whispered into Emily's ear, making sure the smaller girl understood her meaning. Emily could only nod as she gathered her books and shoved them haphazardly into her bag._

_Their relationship lasted for almost a year. Emily was almost sixteen by the time it imploded into a fiery death of harsh words, harsher actions and Emily's broken heart._

_During the time the two girls were together, Emily had learned the very fine art of making a girl cum. She was skillful in many ways, which Hillary never complained about. It was also during this time, that Jenna decided to start entering the girls into the junior's tournaments, which meant that she and Katie were on the road a lot, traveling with their mum. _

_Emily had been contemplating coming out to her family, because she was in love and wanted to share that with them, but she quickly shelved that idea, when after a doubles match, that her and Katie had lost, the twins and Jenna had come across the winners in a very heated embrace outside the locker room. Jenna nearly had a heart attack right then and there, then started spewing her hatred for the two deviants, saying the most hateful and hurtful things to the two teenagers and causing Emily to shrink into herself. After what seemed like hours, but in all reality was probably only a few minutes, Jenna looked at her girls._

_"Come along girls. I do not want you exposed to this kind of filth!" She spat at the other two girls, turned on her heal and stormed off, expecting Katie and Emily to follow her._

_Katie merely shrugged the whole thing off, but Emily turned to them with terrified eyes and mouthed a silent, "I'm so sorry!" To which the other girls just nodded in acknowledgment._

_Emily knew then and there she would be making no proclamations about her sexuality anytime soon, which really sucked for her, but it would be a small relief for Hillary. It bothered Emily more than a little bit that Hillary didn't want to shout her feelings from a rooftop, oh no, she wanted what they had to be "special" and between the two of them. But Emily brushed that hurt feeling aside when she realised how much of a homophobe her mum was. _

_Emily went straight to Hillary's house when they got home. To say she was excited to be seeing her "secret" girlfriend would have been a stretch, to say the least. But, she did want to talk to her about her mum, because it's not like she could talk to Katie about her, now could she? She confidently knocked on the door of the Stevenson residence and waited patiently for someone to open it. _

_"Oh, hello Emily." Mrs. Stevenson said. "How did your tournament go?"_

_"It went well, ma'am. We lost in the doubles, but I made the semifinal this time." She explained as she followed the older woman into the house._

_"That's great dear! Next thing you know, we'll have a bona fide WTA pro in our midst." Mrs. Stevenson replied, with a grin, making Emily blush. "Don't get embarrassed dear, that's where you're headed, you know."_

_"Thank you for the confidence, Mrs. Stevenson." _

_"You're welcome. Hill is up in her room, with another one of your friends." _

_This made Emily stop in her tracks. She was already headed toward the stairs, when Hillary's mum told her that, making Emily frown. "Our friend?" She asked shyly._

_"Yeah, new girl... Sophie... Sophia something." Mrs. Stevenson thought, "taller, dark hair, green eyes." _

_"Sophia Moore?" Emily asked, although she already knew the answer._

_"That's right! Sophia Moore. Nice girl." The older woman stated as she gathered her coat and purse. "Can you let Hillary know that I had to run down to the Tesco? Thanks Emily." She said with a wave as she let herself out. _

_Emily could feel her heart beating faster as she stood at the bottom of the steps that led up to her girlfriend, but something held her back, something she couldn't explain. She actually had to force herself up the stairs and follow the sound of the music blaring from the room at the end of the hallway. She stood in front of Hillary's door, physically shaking with the need to turn around and leave, but something inside her brain told her that she had to know what was going on in that room. _

_She finally forced her hand to reach out to the door knob, knowing that it wouldn't be locked, because Hillary never locked it. Her mother was the type of mum to respect a closed door and would never dream of invading her daughter's private space. And did Emily ever benefit from that respect, on many occasions!_

_She turned the knob slowly, pushing the door open just as slowly, hating the fact that she couldn't just stop and leave. When the door was all the way open, with Emily just standing there, all her fears were being confirmed, multiple times and very vocally, which was the reason for the music. _

_Emily was so crushed at that moment, that she didn't even say anything, because really, what could she have said? "Oh pardon me, I didn't mean to interrupt you while you're knuckle deep in my girlfriend's twat, but would mind handing me my shirt that I left here last week?" Not likely! _

_It was about the third time that Hillary had called out Sophia's name and after finding God, that Emily was noticed. Hillary tried to close her legs, trapping Sophia's head in the process. The movement broke Emily out of her paralysis, so she stormed over and turned off the radio._

_"Emily! What are you doing here?" Hillary asked. "You weren't supposed to be home until tomorrow."_

_Emily laughed out loud at the girl, it seemed she had planned almost everything perfectly. The one thing she didn't count on was Emily and Katie losing so early. She didn't reply, but she did start grabbing all of her things that she had left here over the past ten months. _

_"Emily? Emsy ho-," _

_"Don't you fucking call me that!" Emily finally exploded. "How dare you?" She asked, her usually husky voice raising an octave higher._

_"Emily, it's not what it looks like!" Hillary cried out. _

_"Really? Because to me it looked as if you were enjoying yourself!" Emily's eyes switched from Hillary over to Sophia, as she sat on the bed, covered by a thin sheet. "She tastes pretty fucking great, doesn't she?" _

_Sophia had nothing to say, but she didn't look embarrassed either, she merely shrugged her shoulder._

_"Has she gone down on you yet? If not, you're in for a real treat. She's does this thing with her tongue, and when she gets it going..." Emily was cut off by Hillary._

_"Shut the fuck up, Emily!" She was starting to get just as pissed as the smaller girl. "What gives you the right to come in here?"_

_Emily was honestly on the verge of seeing red. "What gives me the right? How about that fact that I'm your girlfriend? Doesn't that give me the right to come in here? Or how about the fact that we've been going in and out of each other's rooms for as long as we've been friends?" She took a step closer to Hillary, "You gave me that right when you put your fingers inside me!"_

_Hillary's eyes fired up with anger and a sneer crossed her face, confusing Emily. "So now you're my girlfriend? Please enlighten me as to when we made that decision. Because I recall not a single conversation about any such thing!" She spat at Emily, causing the smaller girl to flinch at her words. "What made you think that?" _

_Sophia snorted at Hillary's question. Emily once again turned her glare toward the brunette, who still sat there, with only the bed clothes covering her. "Sorry." She mumbled quietly, ducking her head to avoid Emily. _

_"You know what, Hill, you're right. We never talked about it, so my apologies." Emily replied, almost defeated, almost. "So, I'll leave the two of you alone, but you just remember this; you're the one who started this thing between us, not me. You're the one who kept sneaking into my house for a quickie when it suited you, not me!" She was starting to build up her anger again, but Hillary didn't see it. If she had, she would have been prepared for what happened next. "But you can be damn sure that it will never happen again!"_

_"Who the fuck do you think you are?" Hillary shouted at her. _

_Emily's rage finally broke through everything happening, causing her to pull back her arm and let her clenched fist fly right at the other girl, her former best friend, knocking her right on her ass as blood poured from her nose. "I'm Emily Fucking Fitch, you fucking cunt!" Without looking back toward Sophia, who jumped off the bed to get to Hillary, Emily hitched her bag higher onto her shoulder and started out the door. She paused as she heard the downstairs door open, and remembered what Mrs Stevenson had told her to tell Hillary. "Oh, by the way, your mum went to the market and said she'd be back soon." She called over her shoulder. _

_Emily didn't let the tears fall as she walked down the stairs, or when she ran into Hillary's mum at the door, or when the older woman wanted to know what was wrong. She didn't let them fall as she walked home, because she knew that she would have to explain to her family why she was crying, so she held them in as she entered her house and flew up to her bedroom. Thank God, she and Katie didn't share a room anymore like when they were younger, because she would not have been able to handle that at the moment._

_Emily didn't let the tears fall until after everyone else was asleep. She felt her heart shatter into a million pieces over Hillary's betrayal, only then did she let the tears comes. And once they started, it seemed as if they wouldn't stop. For three days straight she cried. She could tell that Katie was worried. She kept asking Emily what had happened, but the only reply Emily would give was that she got into a fight with her best friend over a boy. She knew that would keep Katie and her mum off her back and it worked for awhile, until Katie had called her out on it. _

* * *

Emily pulled herself out of the tub and wrapped a towel around her body. She sighed as she remembered the pain she felt at the hands of Hillary, how the other girl carelessly handled her heart. She also remembered the promise she made to herself; she was never going to let anyone that close to her again.

Emily Fitch had one goal in her life; and that was to be the first British woman to win Wimbledon since Virginia Wade won it back in '77 and she wasn't about to let anyone get in her way.

* * *

**Well? Comments? Thoughts? Tips? Should I just give up? Let me know!**


	2. Introducing Naomi and Cook

**A/N: **** I wanna thank each and everyone of you guys who has read, followed or added this to your favorites! It literally made my moment:) And to everyone who has reviewed, and you know who you are, I give a big huge ball of Marsupial love! **

**I would like to say that the inspiration for this story really came from two places: Two weeks of Wimbledon tennis on ESPN and the movie Wimbledon. I'm a big dork like that;) So I thought to myself...how cool would it be if that was Naomily? So here we are:)**

**I need to give a massive shout out to Miss Maraudeur:) You know who she is, if you haven't read her stuff yet...You totally should, because she's an extremely talented writer and her stuff is pretty awesome!**

**And so because GloryMorgan needs something to read on her way back to school, I give you chapter 2!**

**Any typos and grammatical errors are all my fault, because I was way too interested in my music classes, than I was in my creative writing classes:)**

**Disclaimer: I still do not own Skins, but if I did, I would employ fanfic writers to write it! **

**Chapter 2: Introducing Naomi and Cook**

"C'mon! You barely reached for that!" A tall blonde watched as her return sailed past her practice partner. "Really Cook! How am I supposed to take on the top players, if I can't even get more of a challenge from you?" She scoffed at her best mate of five years.

"For fucks sake, Blondie! Cut me some slack here!" James Cook stood at the baseline, wiping sweat from his brow. "Can I help it if you're superhuman?"

Naomi Campbell laughed at him. He always made her laugh, even in the middle of training. That's what she loved about him, his ability to laugh at everything, even when they were supposed to be serious. "Aww, is the Cookie monster afraid of a girl?" She mocked him, causing him to howl with his trademark laugh.

"Nah, I ain't afraid of a girl," he said with a grin, "I'm afraid of Naomi Campbell!" They walked over to the bench at court side, each grabbing a towel to dry themselves with. "Fuck me, Naoms, I think you're ready for this."

"For what?" She asked, taking a drink of water.

"Wimbledon! This is your shot now, I can feel it!" He said, getting excited, and Naomi couldn't help but think back to the kids they used to be.

* * *

_James had been headed on a one way trip to prison when he was younger, until at the age of sixteen, he had taken up refuge from the authorities by hiding himself at a youth sports complex/ community center in Bristol. It was there that he saw an older lady and what had to be her daughter, come in one day to play tennis. He didn't have the best relationship with his mum, so he was curious about the pair as he watched them play and laugh together. What really surprised him was the jealousy he felt toward them._

_He edged his way out of hiding to get closer to them, somehow thinking if he was close enough, he'd be able to feel what they felt._

_"Oh, hello! Do you want to join us?"_

_Cook was stuck, like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming car, when the older woman called out to him. He didn't know how to respond. "Um... I...no." He stuttered out, sheepishly. He wanted to, but didn't know how to play and he didn't want to embarrass himself in front of the girl, who was just standing there, staring at him. He felt inadequate in front of her. "I don't know how to play." He finally said, a touch embarrassed._

_"Well, that's alright, love. I'm Gina and this non-talking git is my daughter, Naomi."_

_"Mum!" Naomi hissed through gritted teeth. It was just like Gina to embarrass her, it was if she couldn't help herself._

_"What? It's not as if you've been Miss Conversation since the boy showed up, now is it?" Gina said, with a sparkle in her eyes. She loved taking the piss out of her daughter, it kept her grounded to the earth and not get too big headed. The older woman eyed Naomi and watched the way her cheeks turned a slight pink._

_"Whatever." Was Naomi's response. "Are we going to play, or just stand around all day?"_

_"Don't get your knickers in a twist, girl." Gina calmly said. It never paid to shout at Naomi, the girl was as stubborn as a mule when she felt she was being treated unfairly. Gina knew when to push the girl's buttons and when to back off. "So young man, do you have a name?" She asked, turning back to the blonde boy._

_"Um, it's James Cook, but you can call me Cook." He informed Gina, and noticed Naomi's smirk. "What?" He demanded of the blonde._

_"Nothing..._Cook_." She replied, sarcastically._

_"Naomi." Gina reprimanded, quietly. Naomi said nothing further. "Well, James, do you want to learn how to play? I could teach you." She offered the young man. Gina saw a spark of fire in his eyes, but couldn't tell if it was anger or excitement._

_"Mum! You don't have time to teach him! You're teaching me, remember?" Naomi could feel rage course through her. Gina always did this! She always took in strays and gave them more than what she gave Naomi. That was until two years ago, when Naomi had watched a tennis match at the sports complex and felt the need to be just like the players she saw. They seemed powerful and sleek and best of all, out of all the sports, this was one she could do on her own, by herself! Which was how she liked it._

_Naomi was a self proclaimed loner. She didn't care about making friends, because they seemed to be too much work. She ran home that day, shouted for her mum, and made her way past all of the freeloaders taking up residency in her house until she found her mum, sitting in the kitchen with a bunch of complete strangers, talking shit about nothing._

_"Mum, I want to learn to play tennis." She informed her mother, quite haughtily. Gina just stared at her, and saw the determination in her eyes._

_"Okay, love." The older woman replied with a smile. "I'll do what I can."_

_Naomi felt a bit gobsmacked. She thought that she would have to fight her mum on this. But then, when it really sunk in that Gina had agreed, Naomi did two things that she hadn't done in a very long time; she smiled a full smile at the older woman, which was a shock to Gina, and then Naomi hugged her mum._

_Naomi was fourteen at the time and Gina had a hard time finding someone to teach the girl, everyone she spoke to claimed that Naomi was too old to start learning. But Gina was just as determined as her daughter and kept searching for a teacher. She found one in the form of Kieran Mac Foeinaiugh, a gruff and almost vulgar Irishman, who was the best in his day._  
_When Gina approached him, at first he said the same as all the others, but Gina had decided to hit a few balls with Naomi before they left the complex. Kieran saw raw talent in the young girl, so he relented on the condition that Gina learn as well. That was how Naomi ended up with a stepfather._

_During their practice sessions, Gina and Kieran were doing more than serve and volley! Not that it mattered to Naomi, who was totally focused on learning about the game._

_"Naomi! I can teach both of you, plus Kieran has your coaching covered anyway, so quit being a snarky, petulant child!" Gina had lost her cool, and in doing so Naomi knew she pushed her mum too far._

_"Fine! But don't expect me to help!" She stomped over to the bench, sat down and pulled out her water bottle. She watched as her mum pulled out one of Kieran's racquets and hand it to the boy._

* * *

Naomi looked over at her friend as she thought about when they first met five years ago. It still amazed her how much he excelled at this game. He really took to it. It was a few months after that first meeting, when Gina found out that he was practically living at the sports complex. She immediately took him in, after she had kicked out her merry band of stragglers, made him go back to school and set up a training schedule for both Naomi and Cook.

Now here they were, both of them in top form and ready to tackle whatever the game would throw at them. They were both being hailed as the newest up and comers to beat, having excelled rather quickly up the ranks. They had been on the tour for a couple of years, playing in every tournament that came along. This year was the first year that they had both qualified for the Majors. During the Australian Open, Naomi went to the Round of Sixteen, while Cook finished in round three.

During the French Open, they both made it to the Quarterfinals, where they both had put up a really good fight, but Cook was the first one of them to fall, followed by Naomi.

It only made them more determined than ever, to work harder and win.

"Ya know we leave for Eastbourne next week." She said to him as they sat together, watching some of the other players on the other courts.

"I know that, but what's your point?" He laughed at her. He knew what she was getting at. Naomi wasn't as subtle as she thought she was. "For all your being a girl, you such a boy!" He laughed at her a she blushed profusely.

"Fuck you, Cook!"

"Fuck you right back, Blondie!" He said, nudging her shoulder with his.

"That's not what I meant anyway, you tosser." She smirked. It's true, she hadn't been thinking about all the tourist girls that would be available, but now that Cook and said something, a dirty thought or two popped into her head.

Naomi didn't walk around advertising the fact that she was gay, but she didn't hide it, either. She knew early on that she was attracted to other girls, but never having the opportunity to act on her feelings, she kept quiet about it, thinking maybe it was just a phase. That was until James Cook smashed his way into her life.

It had been when they were seventeen and in their second year of college, when her and Cook met Abigail. It was lust at first sight for both of them and causing the only rift in their friendship. It almost ripped their friendship to shreds, actually.

* * *

_Naomi had met her when they shared an English class together. Abigail flirted endlessly with her for weeks, keeping her on the edge for almost two months, until Naomi was finally able to convince the other girl that it would be a good idea to go on a date, to see if they could make a go of it. During this time, Naomi was pulling away from Cook, shirking tennis practice and once, had disappeared for two days without telling Cook, Gina or Kieran where she was._

_Naomi was in love, or so she thought. What the blonde didn't know was that Abigail was also seeing Cook. Abigail had known from the start that they were best friends, practically family, but it didn't stop her from playing with both of them._

_Cook was the first to figure out what was going on, when strangely enough, his girlfriend was missing at the same time as Naomi. It was confirmed when he burst in on them tangled up together, in the very same hotel that Abigail had taken Cook to the weekend before, for a night of the dirtiest sex he had ever had._

_Naomi was shocked at first, which quickly became embarrassment, and then anger finally ripped through her. At Cook!_

_"What the actual fuck, James!" She scrambled to cover herself, whilst shooting daggers at him. "What are you doing here?"_

_"I could asked you the same thing, Blondie." He said, quite calmly, tipping Naomi off to how pissed off he was. Cook only did "calm" when he was trying to control his anger, so that he didn't end up killing someone. "Are you having fun with my girlfriend?"_

_Abigail tried to pull away from Naomi, as the blonde glared at her best mate. "What the fuck are you talking about? I've been dating Abi for a month!"Naomi shouted out, turning to look at the other girl. "Tell him, Hun!"_

_"That's funny, innit? What'd you do Naomi, pounce on her after I started dating her?" The venom in Cook's voice was enough to bring Naomi up off the bed to stand directly in front of him._

_"Fuck off Cook! What, are you jealous or something? Your girlfriend! That's bloody rich coming from you!" Naomi shouted back at him, not really caring about his anger anymore._

_Cook and Naomi stood toe to toe, glaring at each other and not even noticing when Abigail came out of the bathroom, fully dressed and making her way toward the door._

_"Oi! Where the fuck do you think you're going?" Cook caught the smaller girl with her hand reaching for the door handle, trying to make her escape. "I think you have a bit of explaining to do, don't you?"_

_"Don't talk to her like that, you fucking tosser!" Naomi said, pushing him away from her. Cook was visibly shaking, as he stared in disbelief at his friend, until he caught the small smile Abigail had failed to hide quick enough. It didn't take him long to cotton on to what the girl had done. The look of hatred that came from Cook worried Naomi and scared Abigail. He tried to reach for her, but Naomi put herself in front of the girl. "You fuckin' slag! Did you accomplish what you set out to do?" He spat at her, while Naomi struggled to hold him back. The blonde was completely lost as to what he was talking about._

_"I have no idea what you mean." Abigail said, with enough innocence that Naomi believed her._

_"Like fuck you don't!" Cook turned his eyes toward the blonde, "don't you see what she's done?"_

_Naomi was lost for another moment, but the look of pleading in Cooks eyes was slowly breaking down her wall of hatred. She shook her head at him, because the sick truth was, she did see what Abigail had done to them and it was starting to make her physically ill._

_"No. She said she loved me." Naomi claimed, her voice shaking with fear._

_"Of course she did, you dickhead! She said that to me as well, didn't she?" Cook retorted. "But she doesn't love either one of us, do ya sweetheart?"_

_"Abigail? Tell me that isn't true." Naomi pleaded with the other girl, who just stood there, knowing that her fun and games were over. "Please tell me it's not true!"_

_Abigail shrugged her shoulder and rolled her eyes at the pair standing before her. "You both had fun, didn't ya? I just didn't expect him..." She shot a look to Cook, "to catch on. I didn't think he was that smart, to be honest with ya."_

_It was the indifference in the girl's voice that sent Naomi into a rage so powerful, causing her to grab Abigail and start pounding her fists into her. It took three tries to pull her off the girl, not that he was trying very hard the first two attempts, but when the girl started to lose consciousness, he knew he needed to get Naomi out of there. Abigail had already done enough damage to the two of them; Naomi really didn't need to get nicked for murder._

_He wrapped her in the sheet she was still clinging to, and pushed her out of the room, before shutting the door, leaving Naomi alone, throwing up in the hallway. He walked over to Abigail, helped her up and checked to make sure she would be alright. When she looked at him, she started to say something, but he cut her off before the words could leave her mouth._

_"It's best if we keep this between the three of us, yeah? Naomi wouldn't deserve that after what you did to her." Cook said quietly. "Didn't expect her to be that strong, did ya?"_

_"Why shouldn't she pay for this?" Abigail asked, as blood poured from her nose and the cut above her eye. "Look at me!" She screamed at him._

_"Trust me, you need to leave it. You brought this on yourself when you decided to fucking splash about in our lives. This wasn't a game, Abigail. You hurt people! You hurt my family!" He stood up and turned to leave. "Let's just chalk this up to a lesson learned, yeah? Because that's what it is." He glanced back at her once more. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go fix what you broke!"_

_With that, Cook left the beaten girl and gathered up a crying Naomi in his arms and carried her out to his car, leaving his hate in the hotel room._

_It was two weeks, before Naomi even made it out of bed. Her heartbreak and guilt over what happened was so big, that she couldn't physically stand the pressure. She just stayed curled up on her bed, not seeming to move. It was a month after that, that she finally stopped crying. It took Gina and Cook just holding her, to bring her around._

_Her and Cook sat for hours one night, sharing a ridiculous amount of vodka and just talking about what happened. Cook understood how fragile their bond was, he knew that it could've been severed and never repaired, but he was not going to let that happen._

_Two months after the Abigail incident, he was finally able to get her out on the tennis court. After three hours of playing hard, he dropped his racquet, jumped over the net and grabbed her up in the tightest hug he could. Naomi felt him shaking as she held on to him._

_"James? What's wrong?" She asked, quietly._

_"I could've lost you! You, Gina and Kieran. You're my family." He cried. "We almost let that bitch come between us!"_

_"But we didn't, did we? You saw what she was doing, you stopped it." She whispered into his ear. "You saved us. I'll make a deal with you, right here and now; we will promise to be open and honest with each other, no matter what, ok? We will never let another girl come between us, yeah?" Cook nodded into her neck. "Come on, let's go home."_

* * *

"Oi! Are you listening to me?" Cook snapped his fingers in front of her face. She had been lost in her thoughts and totally blanked everything else out.

"Sorry, Cook." She smiled sheepishly at him. "What did you say?"

Cook howled in laughter. Sometimes, only sometimes, she was a true blonde. His laughter died down as he caught his breath. "I _said..._we need to get you out on the town while we're down there. We could head over to Brighton? Take in the sights, the clubs, the...girls?" He grinned his Cookiemonster grin, bringing out Naomi's own laughter.

"Yeah, sounds like a good fucking plan!" She told him. "But how about we finish here first?"

Cook nodded as they both grabbed their racquets. They stood up, stretched a little bit, and then headed to each end of the court.

They had spent six hours at the courts that day, preparing for Eastbourne the following week. They both knew what they had to do and they were prepared to do it.

They stopped playing in the mixed doubles, so that they could each concentrate on winning the singles titles. Kieran was excited by their progress, and the Irish bastard kept working them just as hard as before.

Naomi swore to herself, that this time next month, she would be a Wimbledon champion!

* * *

**Was it what you expected? Was it just okay or was it better than you thought? Let me know:)**


	3. Eastbourne

**A/N: I would like to thank everyone who's reading and or following this:) I'm not super satisfied with this one, I was gonna post the other day, but after going through it, I thought 'Dude, you could totally put more in there!' so I ended up rewriting half the chapter:( **

**Anyway, I wanna do a shoutout to emilionaomikins:) because the update for her story, Draw Back Your Bow totally made me pause Assassin's Creed IV so that I could read it and it was totally worth it!**

**And once again, I apologize for any typos and/or grammatical errors! I also apologize in advance if the formatting is off:(**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Skins or the characters, but if I did... nothing bad would have ever happened and I would totally be the shit!**

* * *

**Chapter 3: Eastbourne **

Eastbourne International, or the Aegon Eastbourne International, as it's officially known as, is held every year in the seaside resort town of Eastbourne. It is located in the south of England, and is known as the "Sunniest Place in Great Britain". It never failed to bring in bigger crowds, during the week the tournament was going on. The Fitches rolled into town two days before the tournament, to settle into their hotel and to get in a day of training at Devonshire Park, where the event was being held.

Rob pulled into the carpark next to their hotel and shut off the ignition. "Alright, kids! Let's get checked in, and see what's what!" He looked over at his son, James, who had fallen asleep in the passenger seat, before looking to the girls in the back seat. For the hundredth time, he wondered if he had done the right thing. Sitting down with Jenna, to go over his new idea and talk about the girls' training, had been a disaster.

_Jenna had been in her office when Rob got back home from his meeting with Kieran and Gina. She was going over the tournament schedule and deciding which events her daughters would participate in when Rob came in and sat down. He watched her for a few minutes, noticing that she didn't even bother to look at him or acknowledge his presence at all. Rob shifted in his seat, before clearing his throat. _

_"Love?" He said, quietly, but still got no response. "Jenna!" More forcefully this time, causing her head to snap up and her eyes flare with anger._

_"Yes!" Her Scottish accent sounding harsh spitting out the word. "Can't you see that I'm busy? I need to figure these schedules out for the girls."_

_Rob braced himself, drew in a deep breath and let it out before answering his wife. "That's what I want to...no, I need to talk to you about." He stated, his heavy Scouse accent strengthened by his determination. _

_She narrowed her eyes at him, at the tone of his voice. He hadn't used that tone of voice with her since he was training her after the accident. She didn't much care for the tone then, and twenty two years later, she cared for it even less. _

_Jenna put down the pen in her hand, and primly folded her hands together, placing them on her desk. "Yes?" _

_Rob flinched at the calm, quietness of her voice, but decided not to let that deter him. "Have you talked to Katie and Emily since they've been home?"_

_Jenna was surprised by the question. For some reason, it was not what she was expecting to hear. She covered her shock quickly. "No. They stayed at the center after I left. I honestly didn't even know they were home." She replied, haughtily. _

_"Jenna, love, what's wrong with that picture?" Rob sat there, waiting for her to answer, actually thinking that she would. When she just continued to look at him, with a stony look on her face, he had to reign in his temper. "Have you nothing to say for yourself?" He asked her, softly. His heart hurt when he looked at his wife. "Don't you see what's happening?"_

_"Rob, I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about!" She told him, her voice raising a little bit as well. "You just came in, I haven't seen the girls and I'm starting to lose my patience!" _

_Rob got up and started pacing around the office. "Are our children important you? Are they important to you as individuals?"_

_"Of course they're important to me! Why would you say such a thing?" She asked._

_"So if they came to you right now, looked you right in the eye and said they wanted to quit tennis, you'd be okay with that?" He demanded, even though he knew her answer, but he hoped she would say something different._

_"That's not likely." Simply, stated Jenna. "That's not an option."_

_"Why?" He sat back down, leaned toward the desk, and looked at his wife. "Why is it not an option? What if Katie wants to go to Uni? Or what if Emily wants to work at the center with me?" _

_"Rob, don't be stupid!" She huffed out. "They're tennis players."_

_"But have you ever considered that they may not want to play tennis for a living? For one second.." he was on a roll now, his accent getting heavier, the angrier he got, "did it cross your mind that they might want different things?"_

_"What are you talking about Robert? Of course they want this? Neither one of them have said any different to me! And they would have!" She shouted back at him, convinced that it was true. She knew her daughters! And she be damned if anybody, even her husband, tried saying any different!_

_Rob couldn't help but stare in disbelief at his wife. He could almost see a look of hatred in her eyes, and for the first time in all their years of marriage, he wondered who this woman was. _

_"Enough, Jenna!" He hollered, hoping that the children couldn't hear what was going on. It had the effect of shutting her up though, so he took another deep breath, calmed his anger and soldiered on. "Jenna, when we had Katie and Emily, they replaced you as my favorite girls." He immediately felt bad as he saw a look of hurt flash in Jenna's eyes. "I'm sorry love, but that's just the way it is. Your children are supposed to be the most important things in your life! You're supposed to do what you can to ensure their happiness, while instilling in them the fundamental values of life." He paused for a moment, giving some thought to his next words. "Our girls haven't been as important to as they should have been, because if they had been, you'd know that there is something wrong with Emily. And you would know that Katie does want to go to Uni."_

_Jenna still had that hurt look on her face, but at the moment that wasn't Rob's concern, the girls were. "Starting immediately you are being relived of your coaching duties, Jenna."_

_Jenna flew up from her chair, fury etched all over her face. "How _DARE_ you..." _

_"Enough!" Rob cut her off before she could go on. "That's enough Jenna. You've embarrassed them, you've ridiculed them, you've belittled them their whole career! Starting immediately, I will be taking over the girls' training. You're too hard on them Jenna. You don't respect them, how can you sit there and tell me that you have their best interests at heart, when you don't even know who they are?" _

_"I know exactly who our daughters are! This whole conversation is absurd! You're not even a coach! What makes you think that you can do better than me?" Jenna asked, venom lacing her voice, the hurt disappearing. "It's bad enough that they're mediocre players now as it is, but without me? They'll never qualify for another tournament!" She pushed away from the desk, stood up and rounded to where Rob sat, coming to stand in front of him. "What makes you think that you'll be able to coach them? You don't have the first idea about coaching!" _

_Rob and Jenna stood toe to toe, glaring at each other before he dropped his final bomb. He hated to do this, he really did, but he couldn't let Jenna treat them this way any longer, as if they were only robots._

_"I know enough, and I'll not be doing alone, will I?" He watched her gaze narrow before continuing. "I got the backing from the shareholders last week. We're going ahead with the sponsorships. I've already spoken with Kieran about coaching along side me, so you see, love, I'll be more than capable of handling the girls' training." _

_"You're going to let that... disgusting...vulgar Irishman coach our daughters?" Jenna was outraged at being replace by him._

_"Watch yourself, Jenna! That Irishman is my friend." Rob watched as Jenna was gearing herself up to rage all over anyone in her path, so he decided to put a stop to it before it hit. "I think it may be best for you to go see your mum for a few days, love." _

_Rob said it so quietly, that it shocked Jenna. _

_"What are you trying to say, Rob?"_

_"I'm saying that you're angry and hurt, Jenna. I'm saying that it might be a grand idea to go visit your mum for a few days before you say or do something that you'll regret and then maybe you won't be so angry when we head down to Eastbourne." _

_"Oh no, Rob. You don't want me coaching the girls, so I'll not be going to Eastbourne with them." She turned away from her husband, heading toward the door. She reached for the doorknob, then paused. "Good luck Rob. You'll find out that you're going to need it." She said without turning around. _

_She opened the door, stepped through and slammed the door as hard as she could, leaving Rob alone in the office. _

_For the first time since talking with Kieran and Gina, he prayed he was making the right choice._

Rob didn't dwell on it too long, as he ushered everyone in the hotel. After they checked in, got their rooms and put their bags away, they decided to walk over to Devonshire Park.

He didn't quite know what was going to happen between him and Jenna, a part of him hoping that they'll be okay after she calms down, but he knew his wife; Jenna Fitch definitely knew how to hold a grudge! Rob knew he was going to have to deal with the fallout, whatever that may be.

He made up a quick lie when Katie asked where their mum was, and saw relief pass through Emily's eyes, when he told them that she had to visit her mother for a bit for a family emergency.

The four of them spent the next day and a half, settling in and relaxing, enjoying a nice family dinner where they actually talked instead of sitting in silence. Emily had the first match out of the two of them, with Katie's the following day, so they spent the time discussing strategy and technique.

And for the first time in close to fourteen years, Katie and Emily were actually excited to compete.

* * *

No matter how many times Emily stood here, on the baseline of a tennis court, it never failed to amaze her. And she loved the grass courts best of all.

She and Katie had decided, to forgo the doubles, so that they could focus on the singles. The twins ended up in the same draw, and would maybe have to compete against each other, but Emily didn't worry about that. Right now the only thing she had to worry about was the six foot tall girl, standing on the other side of the net.

Mandy Bhupathi was a constant opponent for Emily. They have faced each other in every tournament they've played. Despite their obvious height difference, they were evenly matched. Right at the moment, they were tied at a set a piece, into the first game of the third set, and it was Emily's serve.

She stood there, trying to relax herself by bouncing the ball a couple of times. 'Come on, Emily! You can do this!' She thought to herself. 'You're just as good as the rest of them.'

After a couple of deep breaths, she bent low, bringing her feet into the pinpoint stance, giving the ball one more bounce before tossing it high into the air. Emily may be short, but she was able to spring up just as high as the other players. Her serves were always consistent and usually she was able to serve at almost 110 mph.

She felt the vibration through her body, as she made contact with the ball, applying enough force on it to make it fly across the net.

Mandy was able to return the serve and it was on from there. One of the things that made Emily a fierce opponent was her ability to cover the whole court in a matter of seconds. She was able to be at the service line to volley the ball back over to the other girl. Emily prided herself with the fact that she could play the whole court.

Mandy was more of a baseliner, using her height and power to her advantage, but it didn't matter, because wherever she put the ball, Emily was right there to return it.

Mandy started to come in to the service line when she saw Emily still back by the baseline. Her goal was to drop a shot right behind the net, forcing Emily to rush to the net. The taller girl set up her shot, for sure that there was no way possible that the smaller girl would be able to get it.

Emily was able to read her opponent like a book. She had seen Mandy perform that same trick on other players, so she was able to anticipate her move. As soon as she saw Mandy take a step, she shot up to the net, reaching the ball as it was just starting its drop. She could see the disbelief on Mandy's face, as the taller girl rushed to the net herself, trying to intercept Emily's shot, but it was too late. Emily had hit it with such force, that it sailed past Mandy before she could get her racquet up.

"15- love!" The chair umpire called out and it went downhill for Mandy from there. The rest of the set was totally in Emily's favor, as she beat the other girl, by not losing a single game.

* * *

"You played a really great match today, Emily." Mandy approached the youngest twin, as she sat in the locker room with Katie.

"Thanks Mandy, so did you." Emily said as she pulled a hoodie down over her head. She had already showered and came out to find Katie waiting for her, so they had been going over Emily's match when Mandy came over. "Sorry that you're done so soon."

Mandy shrugged, "It's the way the game is played."

Katie watched the two of them for a few minutes, before an idea popped into her head. "Hey, Mandy what are you doing tonight?"

Both Mandy and Emily looked at Katie; Mandy in thought and Emily in confusion.

"Well, I was gonna go back to the hotel and review today's match, why?"

"Yeah, Kay, why?" Emily repeated, instantly afraid of what her sister was going to say.

"Well, I just thought that we could all hang out tonight, ya know?" Katie told them. "Marcus took me to this great club the other night, so I figured we could go there."

Mandy looked at Emily, as if checking to see if she was okay with that, "Um, yeah sure, that'd be great." She started to leave, but then turned back around. "What time?"

"How about nine? I have a match tomorrow, so I can't stay out too late." Katie explained.

"Okay, that's perfect!" Mandy said, throwing the twins a small wave before leaving.

"What the fuck was that, Katie?"

She turned toward Emily, to find her glaring at her.

"What?"

"Why would you just want to "hang out" with Mandy?"

"Um, because she's a nice girl, who you totally spanked today, by the way!" Katie explained, as if Emily were stupid. "Plus, she was totally checking you out."

"Um, no!" Emily stood up and grabbed her bag, leaving Katie to scramble after her.

"Why not Emily?" Katie ran up to her, shocked by Emily's small outburst. "She looks fit! If you're into that sorta thing." She smirked.

Emily laughed at her sister. God, she loved the support that Katie gave her, she really did, but she really had no clue sometimes.

"What'd you say about not shagging the competition?" Emily asked.

"Well, she's not competition anymore, now is she?" Katie replied, with a smirk. "You made sure of that."

Emily stopped and stared at Katie, then burst out laughing.

"I just hate the thought of you not being able to have fun while we're here. If we go out as a group, mum will never suspect anything."

"Well, it's not like we have to worry about mum at the moment, is it?" Emily started walking again. "And it's really a sweet thought, Kay, but Mandy?"

"Yeah! What's wrong with her?"

"I just don't think she's my type, Katie."

"You'll never know what you're type is, unless you get out there!" Katie laughed at her. "That's what dating is for!"

"Look, I know you're right, but I just don't see anything happening with Mandy." Emily said, feeling a bit depressed.

"Hey, we'll just go and have a good time, and if there's nothing there, we'll leave it at that, yeah?"

"Okay." Emily said, as Katie put her arm around her. "Yeah, you're right."

Arm in arm, both girls left the tennis complex and headed back to the hotel.

* * *

Naomi sat in the players box, along with Gina and Kieran, watching Cook pummel his opponent.

"That boy gets better with every game." Kieran stated.

"His form his quite nice." Gina replied, rolling her eyes, causing Naomi to chuckle quietly. "He's ranked 19, but that could change depending on how he does here."

"Mum, you know he doesn't care about that." Naomi said, keeping an eye on the action in front of them. "It's all ab...,"

"About the game," Gina finished with her in unison. "Yes, I know dear. And that's a lovely thought, but for everyone else, it's about where you stand in the ranks." She gave Naomi a pointed look. "It's easy for you to say that you don't care about the standings, Miss 11!"

Naomi blushed at her mother's words. She had just reached that spot during the French Open, and while she totally agreed with Cook, it did excite her a little. More than a little, if she was being honest.

"Fine, yes! I happy about my standings, but I would play the game, no matter what."

Again, Gina rolled her eyes. "Naomi, it's nothing to be ashamed of. You're a great athlete, you and Cook both are, and you both should be proud of that. The fact that you don't wrap yourselves up in the "over-the-top" athlete mentality is great."

Naomi had turned to stare at her mum while she was ranting. "The "over-the-top athlete mentality"?"

"You know very well what I'm talking about, Naomi." Gina huffed, making Naomi grin.

"If you two don't mind, I'm trying to watch this match." Kieran whispered harshly. "Cook needs to work on getting up to the net more."

"That's what I said to him, but he claims that the net is for pussies." Naomi told him, causing the Irishman to glare at her.

"That little fucker!" He sputtered out. "You wait until I see him later; I'll show him a pussy then!"

It was a good thing that the players were taking their two minute break, because Naomi and Gina busted up laughing. Naomi actually had tears in her eyes.

"Have I told you that I love you, Kieran?" Naomi asked, in between bouts of laughter.

That shocked the Irishman out of his grumbling, as his cheeks turned pink. He had known the girl since she was fourteen, and had been involved with Gina for almost that long. He had no doubt that he loved his family, and that's what Gina, Naomi and Cook were, they were his family, but he had never heard Naomi confess such a thing. He was amazed to find himself touched by the words.

"Oh, feck off!" He retorted, still blushing. He suddenly looked off in the distance. "Right, ladies. I'll be back."

He started to get up, when Gina placed her hand on his arm, stopping him from leaving. "Don't be long, love, Cook's almost done."

"I won't be." He said.

Naomi watched him walk over to a tall man with a killer smile, full of teeth and blindingly white. She wondered who he was, but then shrugged as her attention was brought back to Cook.

She watched as the kid served to Cook and noticed all the small flaws; he dropped his arm too soon after the toss, his footing was off as he raced to get where Cook was putting the ball, his backhand wasn't accurate, and other little things that made the match uneven. So it was no surprise to Naomi why twenty minutes later, Cook won in three straight sets.

"Game, Set and Match, James Cook!" The umpire called out, as Cook landed the winning point.

She watched as the players came to the net and shook hands. She then watched as Cook gave the kid a manly hug and whispered something into his ear. The kid, JJ something, hung his head a bit, but then looked at Cook, smiled and nodded his head. They made their way over to the chair umpire and shook his hand as well.

Thirty minutes later, Cook came out of the locker room, followed by the kid. Naomi rushed up to him and wrapped him in a hug.

"Great game Cook." She said into his ear. She looked behind him, noticing the kid shuffling his feet as he stared down at them. "And you played a great game as well."

"Th..th..thank you." He stuttered out, blushing as he did. "It was adequate, but nothing like Cook here." He said admiration clear in his voice. "There was only a ten percent chance that I would win, depending on how Cook was playing, then you have to figure in whether he was feeling well, any injuries he may have had and..." Cook placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Jay, you're getting locked on." He said gently, before turning back to Naomi. "Naoms, this is JJ Jones. JJ, this is Naomi Campbell."

JJ stuck his hand out toward her, "Naomi Campbell? It is a pleasure to meet you."

Placing her hand in his, "Same here." She replied, with a small smile. She watched the boy blush again and laughed. "So Cook, you ready to celebrate?"

"I'm ready for a drink, but we can't go crazy, Blondie!" He said with a wink. "You've got a match tomorrow. Anyway, I invited JJ here to hang out with us." He stated.

"Yes, Cook's been waiting to get us all together." JJ explained, with a smile.

"Oh, has he?" Naomi asked, grinning. "And why would that be, Cook?"

"Because, you and me are gonna show the boy how to have a good time, aren't we Blondie?" Cook draped his arm over her shoulders. "I've been running into this guy for the last year, on the circuit, so now that we're all here, my little muff muncher, we're gonna have a great time!"

Naomi laughed at him, then at JJ when she noticed that once again, he was blushing. "Jay, you're gonna have to loosen up a bit, mate!"

"That's what I've been saying!" Cook barked out, throwing his hands up in the air, and then laughed.

Gina, Kieran and the tall guy from earlier finally made their way over to the three of them.

"Lovely match, love." Gina said, hugging Cook tight.

"Thanks, mum." He accepted, sheepishly. "I'd like you to meet JJ Jones. JJ, this is Gina, Kieran and a tall man I don't know."

"Rob Fitch, it's lovely to meet you." The stranger said. "I own and run Fitch Fitness complex, up by Wimbledon."

The three of them all nodded.

"Oh, yes, I've heard of the place." JJ stated. "You have taken sports physiotherapy to the next level, while maintaining a full support strength and fitness training complex."

Everybody stared at JJ, as if he had grown another head. Rob started to laugh first, followed by Kieran and Gina.

"Too right, young man. Bloody hell, I should get you to be our spokesman." Rob told him, as JJ smiled.

"Are you two all set?" Kieran asked Naomi and Cook, who nodded. "Good, let's go. We're going for tea and I would like the both of you to join us."

Naomi and Cook looked at each, shrugged and started to say goodbye to JJ. "Oi, you come too, lad." Kieran said.

JJ was frozen to the spot, as he looked from Cook to Naomi to Rob and then to Kieran.

"Are ya deaf, boy? I said let's go!" The Irishman barked, breaking JJ from his paralysis.

"Me? You want me to go with you?" He asked nervously.

"Do you see anyone else standing here with us? No?" Kieran stated in his sarcastic manner, eyeing up the young man. "Then, yes! I mean you!"

With that all of them left the complex and headed over to the hotel. After they all settled in the dining area, Naomi turned to Kieran.

"Do you plan to tell us what we're all doing here?"

"That's my girl! Straight to the point." Kieran replied dryly. "Well, since you've brought it up, I'll let Rob here explain."

"Thanks Kieran, put me on the spot before I've had me tea." Rob laughed as the waitress brought their tea. "To get straight to it, per Naomi's request, I'm looking to offer you a sponsorship."

Naomi and Cook looked at each other with grins on their faces, as Rob continued.

"I have the opportunity to sponsor six athletes, and I'd like to offer you both a deal. And you too as well, JJ."

This inclusion caused the young man to spit out his tea. Gina laughed quietly, as she grabbed a napkin to help him clean up. "What? Why? I'm not that great a player!" He spit out, throwing excuses around.

"That's not what I'm looking for, and besides, you've only been on the tour for two years, am I right?" Rob asked, JJ nodded. "So, you're young yet. Plus, if you had the right coach, you'd get better, am I right?"

JJ just sat there, unable to speak for a moment. "Look, I can't afford a better coach. My mum mortgaged our house to pay for the one I have." He explained.

Kieran stared at him from across the table. "What if I said you could have a coach that didn't send your family to the poor house, plus you'd start playing better tennis?"

"I'd say, that would be great, but almost impossible." JJ answered quickly. "All the great coaches are already busy, not to mention bloody expensive."

Gina smiled at him. "Nice answer, dear, but if it were possible, what would you say?"

"I'd say sign me up."

With that answer, Gina reached into her bag, pulling out a folder and placed it on the table in front of JJ. Naomi, Cook and JJ all leaned forward to look at the folder. JJ reached for it, apprehensively. After scanning the papers inside, he looked up to Gina and Kieran. "Is this for real?"

"As real as can be." Kieran said, with a grin. "Look, kid, Cook's been telling me about ya for the past year. Kept telling me how much potential you had." Naomi glanced over to Cook, to see his head hung low, trying to hide himself, as Kieran went on. "I've seen for myself how good you are, but without the proper training, you're not going anywhere. Gina and I can provide that for you."

"Don't do anything right now, dear." Gina said gently. "Talk it over with your mother and then decide."

JJ gulped his tea, and then nodded his head. Kieran seemed satisfied with that for now, so he turned to his kids. "What about you two?"

"What? Are you serious?" Cook looked to Naomi, but she didn't know anymore than he did.

"Why offer this to us? There's bound to be better players out there, why give us this opportunity?" Naomi asked.

"The thing is, Kieran and I have been friends for over twenty years. His kids, you two, were the first ones I thought of." Rob explained. "My daughters and you guys. It's the perfect team of young athletes."

Naomi sat up a bit straighter when Rob mentioned that. She had seen his daughters around before, little glimpses of them here and there, but she had never competed against either one. Until tomorrow, that is.

Naomi's first opponent was none other than Katie Fitch. She was interested to see how the other girl played.

"So, I want to even it up; three young ladies and three young lads." Rob finished explaining, just as Naomi zoned back on to the conversation. She found Rob, Kieran and her mum staring at her, expectantly.

"What?" She asked.

"Did you have a good trip, love?" Gina smiled at her, causing Cook to howl with laughter.

"I was just thinking about my match tomorrow, that's all." Naomi said, petulantly as she crossed her arms over her chest. She knew it was no good being mad at them; they would just tease her for it.

"Ah, that's right. You're going up against my Katie." Rob smiled, as he cottoned on to Naomi's discomfort. "You'll have your work cut out for you tomorrow." He said proudly.

"I'm sure I'll be able to handle it." She replied dryly and Cook and JJ both laughed.

"I'm sure you will." He sent her another dazzling smile. "Look, why don't you guys think about my offer? I have given all the information to Gina and Kieran, so talk it over with them, get with your agent and get back to me. I'd like to have something in place before the Championships."

Cook, who had remained mostly silent, spoke up. "Does this offer have anything to do with that fact that Naomi's gay, JJ has Aspergers and I'm ...well, I'm me?" He asked, eying Rob suspiciously. "You need the minority support, so that's why you asked us, in'nt?"

"Hold on there, Cook." Kieran started, but Rob interrupted.

"No, Kieran, that's all right. He should ask questions. It means he's smart." Rob turned from Kieran to face Cook. "To answer your question, no, that's not the reason."

"So what is the reason?" Naomi asked, curious.

"It's because you guys are edgy, you're not afraid to take risks to get the end result to you want. You're not afraid to be different, and you're proud of the fact that you are different." Rob stated, as he looked them in the eyes. "I'll be straight with you. I want you because you are different. So what if you're gay? And so what if you have Aspergers?" He questioned Naomi and JJ. "And so what if you have a jail record?" He pinned Cook with a glance and a smile. "Does any of that change who you are as players?"

Rob had them right where he wanted them. After they finished their tea, the three went off, leaving Kieran, Gina and Rob alone to talk.

"What do you think?" Naomi asked the other two, as they walked toward the lifts. She hit the up button and leaned against the wall to wait.

JJ and Cook just shrugged.

"I don't know. Guess I'll read over the contract and then go from there." JJ said.

"Yeah, same here, Blondie." Cook entered the lift, followed by the other two. "I'm not gonna worry about it now, though. We got other things to think about tonight." He grinned wickedly.

Naomi laughed and JJ shifted nervously.

"What time should we meet up?" She asked JJ.

"Whatever time you guys think is best. I'm not sure about this type of thing." The boy explained.

"Fine then, we'll meet at the lifts about 8. That sound good?" Cook asked him, and watched him nod his agreement. "Alright, it's sorted then, yeah? We'll see you later Jay."

JJ went toward his room, while Naomi and Cook headed for theirs. Cook fell into bed, when Naomi came through the door that joined her room with his.

"Don't you think you should take a shower before you fall asleep?" She stood in the doorway, watching him.

"Yeah, but I'm too knackered to move just yet." He said, face buried in his pillow. "I'll take one later, yeah? Just don't forget to wake me up."

"Alright. I'll see ya in a bit." The last thing Cook remembered was saying bye to Naomi, as he slipped off to sleep.

* * *

**So yeah, another chapter down:) Looks like Mandy's along for the ride:( let's see how long it takes until she kicked out of first class, hey;)**

**So anyway, is it still worth it? Let me know!**

**Marsupial**


	4. The FunFair

**A/N:**** Hey! How's everyone doing today/tonight wherever you are? Alright, I know a lot of you are on edge, waiting for our lovely young ladies to meet:) So I figured, what the hell! You've all been rather patient and supportive, so you all deserve a little bit of a reward;)**

**Like I said a couple of chapters ago, I have been writing this since the end of June and I'm obviously not from the UK, but I have been researching the shit of everything for this story, such as places to go and things to see. So with that in mind, I apologize if I've gotten anything wrong:) and I hope you all can forgive me.**

**Any typos and grammatical errors are all on me, because my literature/creative writing teacher in high school was a boring old bitch, who didn't actually care about teaching us anything:(**

**Disclaimer: Yeah, we all know I don't own Skins or the Skins characters...I don't even own the DVD box set, with hours of extra bonus footage:( but if I did, Series 3 & 4 would be on a loop...**

* * *

**Chapter 4: The FunFair**

Naomi, Cook and JJ made their way over to Brighton, to a club Cook had heard about, called The FunFair. Cook swore that it was "The Place to Be". As they walked up the street, they noticed the line was long and Naomi almost groaned out loud, until she saw Cook wave at the guy standing by the door. The tall guy waved them toward him, so they walked past everyone in line, Naomi smiled at them as she passed by.

"Alright Seth!" Cook shouted.

"Hey Cook, glad to see you guys made it. Thought I was gonna have to pay for my tickets tomorrow." Seth grinned at him. "Head on in!" He unhooked the belt, allowing them to walk past, but then stopped them. "Here, you'll need these." He said, pulling out three wristbands and attaching them to their wrists. "VIP bands. It'll get you anything you want." Seth explained.

"Alright!" Cook exclaimed. "What time you get off the door?"

"'Bout eleven."

"Sweet! Come in and find us."

Seth nodded at them as they finally entered the club.

The first thing Naomi noticed upon entering the club was the decor. It was beautiful! It was reminiscent of an old timey circus. The second thing she noticed was all the people. It seemed as if it was wall to wall bodies, dancing and drinking, writhing to whatever beat the DJ was laying down.

"This is cool!" JJ shouted above the music. Naomi grinned at him, and then placed a hand on his shoulder to guide him toward the bar.

"Let's get a drink before JJ passes out!" Naomi said with a grin, making her way toward an open spot followed by JJ and Cook.

Cook put in the orders for a round of shots, while Naomi scanned the place for an open table. She and JJ finally found one, close to the dance floor and left Cook to handle the drinks.

"So JJ? Did you look over those contracts?" She asked him, shouting a bit above the noise.

"Yeah, I talked to my mum as well. We'll go over it more when I get home. But it seems legit, as far as the sponsorship. I'm definitely going to go with Kieran's offer, though." He said with a smile.

"I think that'd be a great idea, mate. Your coach now is a bit of a twat!" Naomi stated making JJ laugh.

Cook came to the table, carrying a tray loaded with shots.

"What the fuck, Cook! You know I have a match tomorrow!" Naomi shouted at him.

"These ain't for you, lezza! These are for me and Jaykins, over here." He explained with a nod toward JJ. "You're only allowed two!"

"Oh, well, I guess that's okay." Naomi said sarcastically, picking up one of the shots and downing it.

The night was just getting started for the three of them, as they went about getting JJ fucked up.

* * *

"Will you two hurry the fuck up!" Katie yelled from the corner. Katie and Emily had to wait twenty minutes for Mandy to show up, so they were running a bit late. "Come on! We're gonna miss Seth if we don't get there in time!"

"What's her problem?" Mandy grumbled to Emily, who could only glare at the taller girl.

"Seriously? You were late!" Emily shot back at her. "She told you she couldn't stay out too late."

"I'm sorry." Mandy said, not sounding sorry at all.

"Whatever. Let's just go." They got up to where Katie was waiting for them.

"Fucking finally!" Katie exclaimed, leading the other two past the line and up to a really nice looking guy, standing at the door. "Hey Seth!" She shouted above the music spilling out of the club.

Seth looked over and smiled at the small girl. "Hey Katie! I thought you were gonna flake out on me."

Emily thought she saw Katie blush, but it was dark out, so she couldn't be sure.

"Yeah, I had to wait for Miss Punctuality over there." she said with a quick nod toward Mandy and an eye roll. "But we're here now, and I want to show my sister a great time."

Seth looked up finally and noticed the carbon copy of Katie and he also took notice of the taller girl standing a bit too close to the younger twin.

He leaned down toward Katie, placing his mouth close to her ear. "You honestly think she'll have a great time with Gargantuan hanging all over her?" He whispered, causing Katie to giggle.

"I doubt it! But I did invite her along, so I'll have to deal with the fallout." She smiled at him. "Are you coming to hang after your shift?"

"Yeah, I'll be in. I've got a friend inside, so I'll definitely be around." Seth told her, pulling out three V.I.P bands. After he fastened them on the girls, he winked at Katie, as he held open the door to allow them to enter.

"See you later then, babes."

The three of them walked into the entryway, and Emily couldn't get over how cool it was. Katie smiled at her, as they stepped into the main part of the club, causing Emily to gasp.

"Fuck me, Katie! This place is awesome!" Emily grinned at her sister. "Come on! I wanna drink and then I wanna get out on that dance floor."

Emily grabbed Katie's hand and pulled her in the direction of the bar, leaving Mandy to follow behind.

"What can I get ya?" A tall, dark haired guy shouted from behind the bar.

Katie looked at Emily, and then at Mandy, asking the question with her eyes. The taller girl only shrugged her shoulders, while Emily grinned at Katie.

"You know what we need, don't you?" Emily asked her sister.

"No!" Katie cringed at the look on her sister's face. "I can't do that tonight; you know I have a game tomorrow. A game I need to be ready for!" She practically whined. Emily laughed at her screwed up face.

"You're right, Katie, I know that. I just wanted to see what you'd say." Emily said through her laughter. She turned to the barman. "Can we get twelve shots of your finest vodka and three pints, please?" Emily shouted over the music, earning a nod from the man. "Look, don't worry about tomorrow, Kay." She placed her hand on her sister's arm, giving her some comfort.

"That's easy for you to say Emsy, you're the "Giant Slayer"!" Katie huffed out, nodding toward Mandy, who was looking around the club, not paying much attention to the twins. "If you can take her out, you can take out just about anyone." Katie said with a smile.

"Yeah, right!" Emily rolled her eyes, and then handed some money to the bartender as he set a loaded tray of drinks down for them. "Listen, why don't you and the giant make me a path to a table, yeah?" She asked, as she picked up the tray with ease.

Once they were ensconced into a booth, the three of them down their shots right away. Emily started sipping her pint, when Mandy slid closer to her.

"So Emily, what do you do when you're not on the road?"

'Really? That's the best you've got?' Emily thought to herself, as she slowly swallowed her beer.

"I train." She said simply, making Katie snigger into her own glass.

"That's it? You train?" Mandy asked, in what she probably thought was a sexy voice, but really wasn't. All it did was grate on Emily's nerves enough to try to put some distance between her and the taller girl. She was feeling closed in and trapped, and she hated that feeling.

Katie watched as Mandy followed Emily along the seat and decided to fix the mess that she created by inviting Mandy along. "Come on Emsy, let's dance." She said as she grabbed Emily's hand and forced her to slide out the other side of the booth.

"Sorry about that, Emsy." She apologised when they got out on the floor. "I didn't know she'd be so...,"

"Annoying?" Emily said.

"Yeah, annoying fits!" Katie replied, causing Emily to laugh and throw her arms around her older sister.

"It's not your fault, Katie. I didn't know either." Emily moved to the beat of the music along with Katie. "She seems so different outside the locker room, that's for sure."

Katie only nodded her agreement, while she continued to dance and scope out fit guys. Emily got a glimpse of the guys around them and could practically see the drool form a puddle. What was it with guys? Can't sisters dance in peace, for fucks sake! She was concentrating on making sure none of the guys got to close, that she missed Mandy coming up behind her.

Emily tensed when she felt the arms slip around her waist and hot breath on the back of her neck.

"What the fuck!" She yelled, pulling away from the taller girl. "Mandy?"

"Would you like to dance?" The other girl asked, with what might have been a grin, but looked like a grimace under the house lights.

"I was dancing, in case you missed it. Fuck! I'm going to the loo!" She yelled into Katie's ear, "Alone!" She glared at Mandy, making sure she heard that last part. The last thing Emily needed was the other girl following her.

Katie and Mandy watched as Emily went off in search of the bathroom. Mandy turned to the older twin.

"What the fuck is her problem?"

Katie could only stare at her in disbelief. "Really? I think you're her problem." Katie replied, heading back to the table, with Mandy trailing after her. "Look, I didn't ask you to come with us so you could grope my sister."

"Why did you ask me to come?" God, this girl was a total loser.

"I thought it would be a nice thing to do. If I had known what kind of mong you were, I wouldn't have bothered."

"Fuck you Katie!"

"Only in your lezza dreams, sweetheart!" Katie shot back sweetly, causing Mandy to scowl at her. "And probably not even then!"

Mandy realised that she would never be able to win this battle of wits, so she turned around and stormed off, leaving Katie on her own. As she sat there, finishing off her pint, she caught a glimpse of someone through the crowd. It was only a small glimpse, but it was enough to get her up on her feet to follow.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Katie stood by the bar, thoroughly pissed off. Not only did she not catch up to the guy she saw, but there was no sight of Emily or Mandy.

"Well, this is fucking great!" She screamed out loud.

"What can I get ya, love?" A tall red head leaned across the bar toward her, mistaking Katie's frustration as a shout to get her attention.

Katie thought about getting seriously fucked up, but knew she couldn't. "Can I get a bottled water, please?" She finally asked the girl, who simply nodded.

Katie waited for the few seconds it took the red head to get her water, and then handed over her money, before turning around. When she did, she ended up running smack into a body so hard, she almost fell back on her arse. She felt a pair of hands reach out to keep her upright.

"I know women fall for me, babes, but this is ridiculous!" A very loud, very boisterous voice filtered through her embarrassment, followed by a howl of laughter.

"Fuck off, you tw-," she started to say, but when she looked at him, she saw that it was the guy from earlier, causing her to stop speaking. He was taller than her, but then again, there are children running around taller than her, and he had light colored hair. It looked like he had blue eyes, but with the flashing lights in this place it was hard to tell. He smiled at her, which made her heart flutter.

"You right, there love?" He asked her, rubbing his hands up and down her arms, making her shiver in response. "I didn't hurt you, did I?"

She couldn't find any words, which was unusual for her, but there was something about this guy that made her feel inadequate. She didn't like that feeling at all, so she squared her shoulders, stood up to her full 5'3 height, and found the fierce Fitch inside if her.

"Watch where you're going much?" She smirked at him, taking a little satisfaction in watching his eyes, as they lit up.

"Sorry 'bout that." He smiled and Katie almost embarrassed herself again by swooning. 'What the fuck? Swooning? I don't swoon!' Katie thought, still watching him. It took her a moment to realise that he was still talking to her.

She shook herself out of her haze, "Sorry, what did you say?"

"I said, let me buy you a drink, to make up for almost runnin' ya down." Grin firmly in place, eyes glued to hers, which she had to give him credit for because most guys, okay all the guys she's ever come across, only stare at her tits. And even though they are magnificent, it does get old after awhile.

"I'm sorry, but I shouldn't." She was actually upset that she couldn't, it was the first time she had ever wanted not to have a match the next day.

"Oh, are you leaving?" Disappointment laced his voice. "Are you here with someone?"

"No, not leaving and yes, here with my sister." She replied, noticing his visible relief.

"I'm here with my sister too. Why don't you come sit with us?" He sounded so hopeful, that Katie didn't have the heart or the inclination to brush him off. She followed him, after he picked up the tray full of shots that had been sitting on the bar. They walked through the crowd, with Katie following closely behind the mystery guy, and finally reached a table where another guy, with curly hair was sitting.

"Alright, Jaykins!" Katie's guy yelled as he set the tray down. "Drink up, my friend!"

"Who's your friend?" The curly haired boy asked.

"Oh, fuck me! Where're my manners?" He asked himself, with a shy grin, before turning to Katie. "Alright, love, I'm James Cook. It's a pleasure to meet you. And this adorable lad here is JJ Jones." He stated, ruffling JJ's hair.

Katie took the hand that Cook was holding out, "I'm Katie." She told them.

"That's it? Just Katie?" JJ asked. "You look at little familiar. Have we met before?"

"I'm don't think so. I'm not from around here."

"Neither are we." Cook said. "We're here for the Eastbourne International." He stated, hoping to impress her.

"So am I." She told him and watched as his face morphed from cocky expression to wonder. "Well, my sister and I are."

"You're on the tour?" His question wasn't really a question, more like a statement, but it seemed to make him happy, so Katie just nodded.

"So what brings you out tonight?" JJ asked after downing a shot. He was feeling very good about himself at the moment, even though it was the alcohol that Cook and Naomi had been pouring down his throat. He felt confident enough, and knew that the shots were the only reason he was able to even look at Katie, much less talk to her.

"I brought my sister out to celebrate her win today, among other things…" She trailed off, with the last bit said under her breath, hoping that neither one of them heard it. She knew it wasn't her lucky night, when she caught the look on Cook's face, but breathed a sigh of relief when he didn't say anything.

It wasn't Katie's place to tell anyone about her sister. That was Emily's decision, if she wanted people to know, but she wished that Emily would come out to the rest of the family. Then at least, she'd be able to find someone that made her happy.

Katie was lost in her thoughts, Cook could see them whirling around her head, and caught a wishful look on her face. He was about to ask her about it, when Katie leaned over to say something to JJ.

"What? Where?" JJ's head whipped around so fast, Cook wondered how it stayed on his shoulders.

"Over there." Katie said, pointing in the direction of the bar. "Go on." She nudged him until he finally slid off the chair and slowly made his way over to a young blonde that was staring at JJ with a smile.

"Yeah, JJ! Go get some!" Cook hollered at the boy, causing Katie to laugh at him. He looked at her with a smile. "So if you're on the tour, how come I've never seen you around before?"

Katie honestly didn't know how to answer that without making her mum sound like more of a bitch, so she took a breath and just let the truth come out. "Because my mum is a total bitch for the most part and always told us we weren't good enough."

"Wow, that's kind of a loaded answer." Cook replied, quietly. "Would you like to explain that statement?"

"My mum was a big shot in the sport, back in the eighties. She was on the verge of making the number one spot, but an accident killed her chances." Katie brought her water bottle up to her lips, and took a pull of the cool liquid, before she continued. "When she saw the potential that Emily and I had, she jumped all over that, not even asking us if that's what we wanted to do."

"How old were you?"

"We were six. You probably know how lonely it is at that age, stuck at tennis camp, getting yelled at in Russian, right?"

Cook shook his head. "Actually I don't. I didn't learn to play until I was fifteen." He explained. Katie stared at him as if he had grown another head in the last thirty seconds. "You finish yours and then I'll tell you mine." He told, seeing the questions in her eyes.

"Yeah, so anyway, mum entered us in loads of juniors tournaments, but when we were about seventeen, she figured it was time to step up to the big leagues, and she entered us in the Sydney International. It was the first time we had ever entered such a huge event and it scared the fuck outta me!" Katie paused for a moment, taking another sip and noticed that Cook was oddly interested in hearing the rest of the story.

"So what happened? Because I'd have remembered seeing you around." He asked with a grin, wagging his eyebrows. Katie laughed at that. Fuck did it feel good to just laugh and not have to pretend.

"Needless to say we didn't do that well. Mum was so embarrassed of our performance, her words by the way, not mine, that she refused to let us enter the Australian Open, or any Grand Slam, until she deemed that we were ready."

"Fuck babes, I'm truly sorry to hear that, yeah?" Cook shook his head, thinking to himself that Katie's mum sounded an awful lot like his own.

She tapped her knuckles on the table, grabbing his attention. "I've told you mine." She grinned at him, causing a feeling in Cook that he hadn't felt in a long time. He pushed it down, grabbed a shot off the table and knocked it back.

"My mum is Ruth Byatt." He said, waiting to see if he got any reaction. When Katie showed no recognition, he continued. "She's a famous artist. She's also a drunk and drug addict." He spit out, with disgust dripping in his voice. "She was way more worried about were her next drink was coming from or who she could get a line or two from, than worrying about what I was getting up to." He had to stop for a second. It was harder than he thought it would be after all this time.

Katie reached her hand across the table, grabbing his and just held it. "You don't have to talk about it. I'm sorry I bro-," he cut her off.

"Nah, it's only fair, in'nit?" He gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "She wasn't a mother. She brought home this guy once, who thought I'd make a perfectly good punching bag, so I got the fuck out, didn't I?" He shrugged, as if that could erase the memories. "That's when I was saved. I was well on my way to a life of the same shit as me mum, but I was saved by two angels." He grinned now, as he remembered when he met Gina and Naomi.

Cook told her about how Gina found him and taught him how to play the game. He also told Katie about when Gina found out about him living in the sports complex, how she went to talk to his mother, but ended up getting so frustrated with the drunk woman, that Gina couldn't help but punch her. Soon after, Cook's mother signed over guardianship of him to Gina.

Katie laughed harder than she ever had before. "Are you having a laugh? She actually hit your mum?"

"Too fuckin' right she did!" Cook's eyes shined as he laughed with her. "I tell ya, Gina is the sweetest woman you'll ever meet, but do not, whatever you do, piss that woman off!"

"She sounds wonderful. Really, she does." Katie said. She started to say something else, but was cut off by someone yelling at Cook from the dance floor.

"Cookie! I almost thought I'd lost ya!"

"Blondie!" He hollered back to the girl moving toward the table. "Where the hell have you been?"

Naomi laughed at him. "I was stuck in the line for the loo." She scrunched up her face. "I ran into Mandy." She stated, as if that said it all.

"You know Mandy?" Katie asked, interested.

Naomi looked at Katie in confusion. "How did you get out of the bathroom?" The blonde replied, making Katie nervous.

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

"You're having a laugh, right?" Naomi giggled. "Mandy finally remove her claws from ya, did she?"

Katie stood up abruptly, confusing Naomi further, looked at Cook and said, "I'm sorry, but I've got to go."

"Wait a minute, I'll come with ya, yeah?" He said and Katie nodded her answer, and then looked back to Naomi. "Where's the bathrooms?"

Naomi stood there, confused as fuck.

"Seriously! Where are they?" Katie pleaded with the blonde, she had a sickening feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"Naoms, the loo? Which way?" Cook intervened, shaking Naomi out of her stupor.

"Follow me." She said, rolling her eyes and headed back the way she came. Naomi wasn't sure what was going on, but the scared look on the smaller girl's face was kinda freaking her out.

The three of them made their way through the crowd, finally reaching the line. Katie marched her way past the angry girls waiting to get into the bathroom. She ignored the pissed off shouts, as she shoved her way through the door, with Naomi right behind her.

"Emily?" The smaller girl shouted into the room. "Emsy?"

"Katie?" A small voice came from the last stall and then louder, "Don't fucking touch me!"

Naomi and Katie looked at each other, before moving toward the voice. Katie pounded on the door.

"Emily, what's wrong." The older twin asked. "Who's in there with you?"

"Who do you think?" Emily snapped back. Naomi and Katie could hear scuffling from the other side of the door.

"Emily! I just wanted to talk with you?"

"Mandy?" Naomi demanded, as she recognized the voice behind the door. "Who do you have trapped now?"

"Fuck off Naomi!" The taller girl growled out behind the door.

"Fuck if I will! Open the damn door, you freak!" Naomi shouted.

The next few minutes passed in a blur for Katie. Emily was finally able to unlock the door, but Katie was so worried about what the giant might be doing to her sister, that she didn't hear the click, but Naomi did, so she wrenched the door open.

Naomi saw Mandy pinning the smaller girl against the wall. Katie rushed past the blonde and tried to grab at Emily. "What the actual fuck! What do you think you're doing?" Mandy blocked Katie from getting to Emily.

Mandy turned her head to glare at Katie, and Naomi realised for the first time that the two smaller girls were twins and for some reason, found herself shocked by that fact.

"She won't talk to me!" The taller girl screamed.

"Mandy, when are you going to stop doing this shit?" Naomi asked harshly. "You're seriously unhinged, do you know that?"

Katie tried once again to get to her sister, but Mandy pushed her back so hard that she stumbled out of the stall. She would have fallen if it hadn't been for Naomi catching her and keeping her up right.

"Mandy, please? Just let me go and we'll go talk somewhere." Emily pleaded, honestly getting scared. She was willing to say anything to her at this point.

"No you won't! Mandy, you're going to let her go or else I'm going to make sure that you never hold a tennis racquet again." Katie said calmly. Naomi heard something in her voice that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

"If she would have just paid attention to me, this could have been avoid-!" Mandy was interrupted and the next thing anyone knew, she was being tossed out of the stall.

"There's a reason no one talks to you! Or pays attention to you!" Naomi shouted as she stood in between her and Emily. "Now, we're going to walk out of here, and if I were you, I would wait a few minutes before leaving." Naomi sneered at her.

Mandy picked herself up and glared defiantly at Naomi. "What makes you think you can tell me what to do?"

"I'm not telling you anything." Naomi said as she placed an arm around Emily to pull her out of the cubicle, and the blonde didn't miss the jealous look in Mandy's eyes. "I'm merely suggesting it, because you should know who is standing outside the door, waiting for us."

Katie, Emily and Naomi all watched as the look on Mandy's face went from full on bitch to scared little girl, in a matter of seconds.

"See, I knew you had a brain in that thick skull somewhere." Naomi taunted the girl, still holding on to Emily, and reaching for Katie as well. "He already knows you're here, so don't make it worse for yourself."

Mandy stayed rooted to the spot she was in, as Naomi led the twins out the door. Once they got back out in the club, Naomi noticed that Emily was shaking really bad and that Cook and JJ were waiting for them.

"Was it her?"Cook asked, his voice hard. Naomi nodded. "That bitch! I knew we should have done something about her the last time."

"The last time?" Katie questioned him, looking back and forth from Cook to Naomi. "What happened the last time?"

Naomi and Cook looked at each other, communicating with their eyes. Naomi spoke up first. "Let's get out of here before she follows us."

They all nodded their agreement, and started to leave. Naomi would have removed her arm from around Emily, if the smaller girl would have let her. The blonde looked to Katie for help, but Katie was being escorted herself by Cook, causing Naomi to smile.

"Since we're practically cuddling, we should probably introduce ourselves, yeah?" Naomi said flippantly, trying to lighten the mood a bit. She was rewarded with a laugh from Emily.

"I suppose you're right. I'm Emily Fitch." She offered, and then watched as Naomi's face lit up with amusement. "What?"

"You're Emily Fitch? And your sister is Katie?" Naomi asked, giving a shake of her head, trying to get rid of the sudden dizziness caused by Emily's husky voice.

"Yeah, why?"

"No reason. I met your dad today." The blonde stated, more calmly than she felt, leading the smaller girl out of the club. Once they stepped on the pavement, JJ signaled for a taxi. It only took a few minutes, then they all piled into the car.

"Where to?" The driver asked.

"Can you take us somewhere to get some coffee and maybe something to eat?" Cook asked the man.

"Right. I know just the place for you kids." The driver said as he pulled away from the curb. A few minutes later, they pulled up in front of the Market Diner. Naomi paid the driver, as the rest of them were getting out.

"Alright, kids." Cook grinned at them all. "Let's get in there and cause some trouble!" Naomi smiled at him, as the others just shrugged.

"Do you think maybe you're going to get around to explaining what the fuck happened back there?" Katie, clearly agitated, asked. Emily, who was just standing there with a blank look on her face, shivered again.

"All in good time, Katiekins!" He laughed, reaching for the door. "After you lovely ladies."

Katie, Emily and Naomi walked in, found a table and sat down and then came JJ and Cook.

Katie looked from Naomi to Cook, waiting for one of them to start talking. "Well?"

"Katie, you getting angry is not helping anything." Emily spoke up, once again causing Naomi's stomach to drop, slightly. "So how 'bout we order some coffee and talk, yeah?"

Naomi watched the sisters, with a raised eyebrow. "How about we do introductions all around? Get to know each other first, yeah?" The blonde asked everyone, earning yeahs and nods. "Ok, I'm Naomi Campbell." Katie gasped causing Naomi to chuckle. "It's weird, right?" She asked the small brunette and Katie agreed. "And you are?" She asked, watching Katie.

"I'm Katie Fitch, and this is my sister, Em-,"

"Emily Fitch, the Giant Slayer." Naomi stated, sparkling eyes on the small red head.

"So how do you know Mandy?" Emily asked the blonde.

"I've run into her a time or two on the tour. She's a pretty good player, but she's a shitty human being." Naomi explained, rather vaguely.

"Mandy has a habit of stalking her prey, so to speak." Cook added, as the waitress finally got around to their table. They all ordered coffee and a bite to eat. Once the girl was gone, Cook leaned forward once more. "I was seeing a girl last year, Katrina Philips, one of the new girls on the tour. She was a decent player, and a really sweet young girl." Cook paused again when the waitress brought their drinks, waited as everyone settled down again. "Katrina was a friendly girl. She didn't want to be at odds with the rest of the ladies, her way of thinking was, just because you had to compete against each other didn't mean you had to hate each other."

"Seems like a naive approach to the game." Katie said.

"It kinda is, but that's how she was." Naomi clarified, with a sad smile. "Naive and sweet."

"What happened to her." Emily wondered.

"Mandy happened to her, that's what." Cook said with a grimace. "Mandy mistook her kindness for something more, didn't she?"

Naomi could tell Cook was getting emotional, how could he not. Katrina and Cook were closer than anyone else, besides Naomi, knew. He would have settled down with the girl if it hadn't been for Mandy. Naomi placed her hand over his, to comfort him. He smiled at her.

"Mandy kept pressuring Katrina for more than just friendship, even though Kat told her time and time again, that she was straight and seeing someone. Mandy took it too far during an event. They were competing against each other, during a changeover, harsh words were delivered by Mandy, which Katrina ignored."

Again Cook paused when their food was brought out, but he noticed that he had everyone's attention. He didn't know if he'd be able to continue, so he looked to Naomi for help.

"After the match, Katrina was excited, ya know. But she didn't expect Mandy to be waiting for her in the locker room." Naomi swallowed a sip of coffee. "When I went in there to get her, Mandy had her pinned against the shower stall, almost like she had Emily tonight."

"Almost?" Emily quietly asked. "What was different?"

Naomi merely raised her eyebrow and fixed her with a look, as if to say, 'I think you know what was different!'

Katie and Emily gasped, in unison.

"So how come Mandy's still on the tour?" Katie demanded. "Why was she allowed to do that and get away with it?"

Cook laughed an almost bitter laugh. "Love, she didn't get away with it. Just because the WTA wasn't involved, doesn't mean she got off scot fuckin' free!"

"What do you mean? What did you do to her?"

"I didn't do a fucking thing, did I?" He smiled at Naomi, the full smile that showed her he was proud of her. "Nah, that one's all on Blondie here!"

Naomi and Cook explained how Naomi took care of Mandy. And how when Naomi was done with her, Katrina was so ashamed and embarrassed over what had happened, that she broke it off with Cook and left the tour. The five of them sat there for awhile, talking about what Mandy might do in retaliation, JJ, Katie and Emily asking questions with Naomi and Cook giving the best answers.

"Alright, I'm through talking about this." Emily stated, as she pushed her plate away. Everyone looked at her as if she was crazy. "Seriously. Look, it didn't go that far tonight, thanks to Katie and Naomi, so I'm not going to worry about it now."

Naomi took a moment to actually look at the Fitch twins. The lights in the club seriously didn't do either one of them justice. But how she didn't notice that they looked totally different was beyond her. Sure they resembled each other, they were sisters after all, but where Katie's face was rounder and fuller, while Emily's face was more angular, more defined. And the hair! She should have noticed that from 200 paces away. Katie's hair was deep rich chestnut color, with purple highlights, but Emily's hair was a blaze of color. It looked as if there were three different shades of red and somehow, despite the fact that it shouldn't have, it totally worked.

"I don't know Emily," JJ spoke up. "It's probably not wise to brush this Mandy off so easily."

"I'm not brushing her off, but I'm not going to push the issue." The red head said. "If she does anything, I won't ignore it but I'm not looking to cause trouble."

Katie scoffed at her sister. "What?" Emily snapped at her sister.

"Like you don't know!" Two pairs of brown eyes locked together in an unspoken conversation. "You don't want to cause trouble, because then you wouldn't be able to concentrate on your goal!" Katie finally snapped out.

"What's your goal?" JJ asked, still a little bit drunk. Emily blushed at the question, god her sister could be a bit embarrassing sometimes.

She looked up and noticed everyone's eyes on her. "Fucking hell!" She muttered under her breath.

"Emsy's going to be the first British woman to win Wimbledon, since 1977!" Katie explained, smirking.

"Katie! Twin secret!" If looks could kill, Katie would have been dead on the spot. "You promised you wouldn't tell anyone!"

Cook howled with laughter, bringing the girls attention to him.

"This is too fucking funny!" He wiped his eyes, because he honestly had tears in them. "In'nit, Blondie?"

JJ, Katie and Emily all looked at the blonde, who was blushing, quite profusely, herself.

"I've got the feeling that we're missing out on the joke." JJ said to the twins.

"Nah, no joke." Cook stuttered out. He was trying to stop laughing, but it was difficult.

"Cook, please don't." Naomi pleaded with him, to no avail. She knew it was coming, so she hung her head in embarrassment.

"Naomi has the same goal!" Cook stated, and then everyone at the table, except Emily and Naomi, burst out laughing.

* * *

**So...um...yeah:) I know you guys are looking forward to the Naomi/Katie match, and its coming, I swear it is! **

**Loved it? Hated it? Could do without it? Obsessed by it? **

**Let me know:)**


	5. Serves, Volleys and a Proposition

**A/N: Okay, so I have to post this tonight for a couple of reasons... the first is because GloryMorgan tricked me into bribing her! Yes, she did it, she knows she did it and I doubt she feels any guilt for doing it! ;)**

** And the second reason is I have my niece's art showing to go to tomorrow night, and I didn't want to make you guys wait. Aren't I the shit? **

**You guys know the spiel... any and all grammatical errors and typos are all on me. **

**Disclaimer: Nope...Skins is still not owned by me. **

* * *

**Chapter 5: Serves, Volleys and a Proposition**

Naomi groaned as she pulled herself out of bed. If she didn't know any better, she'd swear she had gotten drunk last night. She smiled to herself as she remembered. After the embarrassing of her and Emily, they all got along rather well. Even Katie was a trip to be around, especially after she found out that Naomi was her competitor today. It was just too easy to wind her and get her going.

The blonde gathered her things and headed into the shower. _'Time to get up and moving.'_ She thought to herself. _'Can't win if I'm still in bed!'_ Naomi chuckled as she turned on the faucet.

Twenty minutes later, she felt a lot better and refreshed. She knew she didn't have much time to get ready, because Cook would be knocking any minute, so she hurried up and got dressed.

As predicted, as soon as she walked out of the bedroom, Cook knocked twice before using his key to let himself in.

"Are you ready Blondie?" He shouted. "Oh, I guess you are." He came in and sat down. "Kieran and Gina are waiting for us."

"Yeah, I know. Just let me get my trainers on." She told him, sitting down herself. "So... Last night, hey?"

Cook grinned at the blonde. "It was pretty wild, yeah?"

"Was it? Or is that "Little Cook" talking?" She smirked, lacing up her shoes, making Cook laugh.

"Hey, I'll have you know, Katie and I were having a lovely time, until you showed up." He shrugged. "She's different."

"Naomi scoffed. "Different how?"

"I don't know, just different." Naomi looked up in time to see him blush.

"Oh my God! Are you blushing?" She watched his face turn a deeper shade of red. "You are!"

"Fuck you Naomi!" He stood up and headed to the door. Before he reached, he turned back to Naomi. "I can't explain it, not just yet, ya know. I wouldn't turn down a chance to get to know her better, is all I'm saying."

"Bloody hell! Don't tell me James Cook is growing up on me!" Naomi laughed as they headed out into the hallway to make their way downstairs. "Whatever will I do without my wingman?"

"I ain't going nowhere, Naoms." He slung his arm over her shoulders. A few minutes later, they entered the dining room and looked around for Gina and Kieran. Cook noticed them first and smiled. Naomi followed his gaze, and saw three extra people at the table. Rob Fitch sat there with both Katie and Emily.

Gina caught sight of them as they approached the table, and smiled. "Good morning, my loves!" She greeted them.

"Morning mum." Naomi said as she leaned over and kissed Gina's cheek.

"Morning, mum." Cook repeated Naomi's action.

"Did you guys have fun last night?" Kieran asked, glaring at them.

Naomi and Cook both cringed, causing laughter from Gina and the Fitches. Kieran shook his head at them.

"I didn't spend the last six years training you little fuckers, so you could blow it now!"

"Calm down, Kieran." Naomi squirmed in her seat.

"Calm down? How can I be calm when you have a match today, and you're probably hungover!"

"Nah, Kieran. She's good, our Naoms is!" Cook grinned at everyone around the table. "Don't get your knickers in a twist."

Kieran took a deep breath, blew it out noisily. "I hear you've already met Katie and Emily." He gestured to the twins.

"Yes, we've had the pleasure." Naomi smiled sweetly at her stepdad. She caught the looks of the twins and forced herself to stop the giggles that threatened to erupt.

"Are you two ready for today?" Rob asked Katie and Naomi. "It should prove to be an interesting match." He said, throwing a wink toward Katie, making the older twin smile.

"Yes, dad, really interesting." Katie replied, taking a bite of her breakfast. "When I take out Naomi here today, I'll be a "Giant Slayer" too, just like Emily!" She smirked, as Naomi scoffed.

"Way to dream big, Little Fitch!"

"Now girls, while rivalry is healthy, animosity is not." Kieran stated. "We actually need to talk to all of you."

He looked as if he was going to say something else, when JJ rushed through the dining room. "Sorry I'm late! Sorry I'm late!" He pulled out the chair next to Cook and sat down.

"No need to stress, love. We were just getting started." Gina said with a smile, which immediately put JJ at ease.

"Great, you're all here! Can we get on with it, then?" Kieran growled out, earning nods from all of them. "Great! Rob, would you like to start?"

"Alright." He looked at his daughters. "Katie, Emily, remember last week when I said I would speak to your mum about how she treated you?" They both nodded, but didn't say anything. "Well, I did. I explained to her that I felt she was too harsh with the both of you. During training and other things. You have to understand that your mum just wanted what was best for you both, but she let her competitive nature get in the way." He paused to let the girls process what he was saying. "I've let it be known that I would be in charge of your training from now on."

"That's why mum didn't come this time?" Katie asked, and he nodded.

"Sorry, love." He looked a bit sad at the fact, but Katie and Emily were actually pleased. "With that being said, Kieran and I have agreed to co-manage all of you." This time when he looked around, he saw multiple expressions around the table. "Kieran, Gina and I will be training all of you, if you so choose. The decision is entirely up to you."

"Look at it this way, it'll be like a team of superheroes except that you're neither super nor heroes!" The Irishman laughed at his own joke.

"How would this all work?" Naomi asked skeptically, completely ignoring Kieran's attempt at being funny.

"Good question, Naomi." Rob's eyes twinkled. "As we talked about yesterday, Fitch Fitness would be your main sponsor and our training facility is one of the best in the country, if not the world." He boasted, earning nods from both Katie and Emily. "We have training courts for grass, hard courts and clay, all in one location."

"Say I agree, will I have to move to London?" JJ asked, nervously.

"Well, no. It would be a lot of traveling, but no, you could stay in Bristol." Rob informed him.

"I still want to talk it over with my mother, but it does sound like a really great opportunity." JJ explained to Kieran and Rob.

"Of course, boyo, talk it over with her, but we will need to know by the end of the week." Kieran said.

"Sorry to spring this on you two this morning, but we want to have everything in place before Wimbledon." Rob explained, watching to see the reaction from Katie and Emily. "We wanted to do it yesterday, but I had a problem with James."

"Who's James?" Naomi asked, curiosity etched on her face. Emily giggled, noticing how cute the blonde looked.

"He's the pervert formerly known as our brother." Katie laughed along with Emily. "He always likes to come, so he can ogle all the girls."

"Sounds like my kinda kid!" Cook grinned at the girls, causing everyone to bust out laughing.

"If your kind of kid is a nasty, disgusting perv, then yes, he is your kinda kid!" Katie stated.

"Now Katie. He's not that bad anymore, love." Her father admonished. "He was a naturally curious young lad, that's all."

"Naturally curious? Dad, he wore my underwear and peaked through the keyhole while we showered!" Emily said, proving their point. "And yesterday, he was caught in the women's locker room!"

He gave up trying to define James' good points and got back to explaining the finer details of the sponsorships. They all fell into an easy conversation about Naomi and Katie's match.

Rob, Kieran and Gina left the kids awhile later, saying that they had one more player to look at.

"Sorry guys, I have to get going as well. I have to catch the train back to Bristol." JJ said, standing up. "Naomi, it was really great to finally meet you. Cook has done nothing but talk about you for the last couple of months." He said with a grin.

"Yeah, I was great to meet you too. I'll see you in a couple weeks, yeah?"

"Yes, Wimbledon, I'll be there." He chuckled before turning to the twins. "Katie, Emily, it was a pleasure to meet the both of you."

The twins both stood up to give him a hug.

"Come on Jaykins, I'll walk you out." Cook started to follow him, before turning back to Katie. "I'll see you later, yeah?"

Katie blushed. "Yeah, after the match." She confirmed, and the smile Cook gave her lit up the room.

"Sweet." He walked away to follow JJ, throwing a goodbye to Naomi over his shoulder, leaving the three girls alone.

"So Naomi, what do you do before a match?" The younger twin asked.

"The usual, I guess." She replied with a shrug. "Go for a run, maybe try to get some time with one of the machines. Nothing too taxing."

"Yeah, same with me." Emily agreed.

"How do you two feel about this?" Naomi asked, picking up her coffee and taking a sip.

Katie looked up, confused. "About breakfast?" She asked.

"No, this arrangement between our parents, you git." Naomi said, between giggles.

"Oh. Well, it all depends on how Kieran is as a coach." The brunette answered.

"What'd ya mean?"

"Our mum is hard to get along with." Emily said.

"That's not an exaggeration, that's the truth. She pushes too hard and doesn't know how to bend."

Naomi stared at the twins for a moment, trying to see if they were serious. "Why?"

"Why what?" Emily asked the blonde.

"Why is she so hard on you two?"

"Because she doesn't think we're good enough." Katie stated simply, finishing off her orange juice. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get ready for today." She stood up from the table and looked at Naomi. "I'd be prepared if I were you." She said, and walked away.

Emily giggled at her sister before looking over at Naomi, to see the blonde watching Katie leave.

"Is she always like that?" The blonde asked, turning back around and Emily nodded.

"So what_ do_ you think of what our parents have planned?" Naomi probed the red head again. Emily seemed to think about her answer.

"I feel as if my mum has taken me as far as she can." Emily started. "She doesn't understand me or Katie, so she has tried to make us like her, and while that was fine for a while, it's not working anymore."

"What do you mean?" Naomi asked, taking a bite of her eggs.

"When did you start playing?" Emily caught her by surprise with the question.

"When I was around fourteen, why?"

"Katie and I were six." Naomi nodded in understanding, but didn't comment, so Emily continued. "She didn't even ask if we wanted to learn, she made us. She hates mediocrity, and heaven forbid her daughters be average." Emily was getting worked up, Naomi could tell.

"She sounds like a handful."

"That's an understatement, to say the least." Emily responded, heatedly. "So to answer your original question, I'm all for it." She smiled at the blonde, causing her to choke on her coffee.

_'Wow! That's a powerful smile.'_ Naomi thought to herself, as she spluttered and coughed.

"Are you alright?" Emily started to get up to help Naomi, but the blonde just waved her back.

"Yeah. It just went down the wrong way, I'm good."

"Are you sure? Because I'd hate for Katie to win by default." Emily smirked at the other girl, holding her gaze with sparkling eyes.

"It's the only way she'd win." Naomi shot back, making Emily laugh loudly.

"Come on, I'll run with you today."

"Okay." Naomi followed the younger twin out of the dining room.

* * *

"What do you think?" Rob asked the other two.

"I think we should go with the other girl." Kieran said, simply. "She may be ditzy, but she's good." Gina nodded in agreement.

"Besides, this one and the young man already have a bunch of sponsors." Gina pointed out.

"Alright. So let's go and talk to her." Rob said, as he, Kieran and Gina left their seats and headed toward the clubhouse. "Gina, it might be best if you do the talking. I hear her mum is a bit of a nutter."

Gina slapped Rob on the arm, as Kieran laughed.

"So how did Jenna really take the news?" Gina asked.

"She wasn't happy about it, that's for sure. We had quite the row." Rob told her, sadness in his voice. "She honestly doesn't understand what she's done wrong."

"I'm sure everything will be fine, you'll see."

"I hope so. I really want her to be able to support the girls at the Championships" The three of them walked into the room and spotted the girl they were looking for, sitting at a table with her mother.

It took an hour, but they finally convinced Mrs. Moon that they could make her daughter a better player. With a signed contract in hand, the three of them set off for the hotel. It was almost time for Naomi's and Katie's match and they didn't want to be late.

* * *

When Emily got back to the room she shared with Katie, the older twin was lying on her bed, headphones in her ears, psyching herself up.

Emily walked past her, grabbed her stuff and headed to the en suite for a shower. Katie threw her a wave, but didn't say anything.

While she waited for the water temperature to heat up, she stripped and thought about this morning. Or specifically, her time spent with Naomi. Just thinking about the blonde brought a smile to her face. Not only did she save her from a potentially embarrassing situation the night before, but she was also extremely fun to be around. Their run this morning proved that.

It was great to get out and run, just for the sake of running. Katie hated to run, but did it anyway because it was all part of training, but Emily loved to run. It allowed her to think. She could block out the rest of the world and let her thoughts take over. Today had been different, because Naomi was with her. Whenever they would stop for a break, Naomi would make snarky comments about anyone within eyesight. The redhead had never laughed so much in her life.

Emily let the water rain down on her as she squirted some shampoo into her hand and lathered it up. As she was rinsing out her hair, she remembered her conversation with Naomi from earlier that morning.

The younger twin had already made up her mind about her dads proposal, and she was pretty sure Katie had as well. Emily was going to do it, because at this point in her career and her life, for that matter, anything was better than dealing with Jenna. Maybe if her mum wasn't so concerned about the twins winning all the time, she'd have more of an inclination to be an actual mother. God, Emily hoped that would be the case.

She heard Katie banging on the door just as she was finishing up.

"Come on, bitch! We got forty five minutes!"

"Lovely as always, Katie!" Emily shouted back.

"What took you so long?" Katie asked as she came out of the en suite. "Usually you're in and out."

"Just thinking."

"About...?" Katie pushed.

"Dad and Kieran's offer. What do you think about it?"

Katie shrugged. "It's sounds good, but if we do it, it won't just be us anymore, will it?"

"Maybe that's not such a bad idea. Think about Katie, no more embarrassment from mum." Emily grinned at her sister, making Katie laugh. "Seriously though, I'm gonna do it."

"Really?"

Emily nodded. "Yeah. I hate to say it, but I think mum has taken us as far as she can, don't you?"

"I guess you're right." Katie said, thinking about the whole situation. "Alright then. If you're in, I'm in!"

"Yes!" Emily threw her arms around her sister and hugged her.

"Alright bitch!" Katie said with a laugh. "You're getting water all over!" She stated as she realized that Emily was still wrapped in a towel, drops of water dripping everywhere. "Come on, get ready."

Emily jumped up and finished drying off as Katie lay back down and shut her eyes, placing her headphones back into her ears.

Twenty minutes later, the twins left the hotel and made their way to Devonshire Park. Emily could tell by the way Katie was fidgeting, that she was nervous about today. "You'll be fine Katie."

Katie's head snapped up and her eyes narrowed. "What are you saying?"

"Come on Katie. You and I both watched the DVD!" Emily said. "You know as well as I do how good Naomi is. It's okay to be nervous; she did beat Serena Williams at the Australian Open."

Katie scoffed at her sister. "That was a fluke! You and I both know that Serena was suffering from a particularly nasty cold!"

Emily laughed at her sister's attitude. While it was true that the younger Williams sister did, indeed have a cold, Emily also knew that Naomi was a great player. She was powerful, graceful, and if truth be told, she scared Emily more than a little bit.

As they made their way toward the entrance, Katie stopped in her tracks, causing Emily to run into her.

"What the fuck, Katie!" Emily stepped back from her. "What'd ya stop for?"

"James is here." Katie whispered.

"Of course he's here! Dad was bringing him, remember?"

"Not the perv, you twat!" Katie hissed, as she grabbed her sister by the chin, bringing her face around to see what Katie was seeing.

"Ooooh, that James!" Emily snickered. "God, Katie, you're such a girl!"

"Well, I should fucking hope so, you cow!" The older twin snapped at her as they started walking again. "I didn't think I'd see him before the match, that's all."

Emily stole a glance at Katie and was shocked at what she saw. "Are you blushing?" She asked, laughing.

"Oh, fuck off! I don't blush!" Katie snapped out, rolling her eyes at Emily's laughter. But Emily was too far gone, and couldn't stop. The older twin glared at her and walked away from her.

"Hello, you lovely ladies." Cook greeted them. "Emily, your dad asked me to come and get you. We're sharing a player's box, so..."

"Okay." Emily turned and hugged her sister. "Good luck, Kay."

"Thanks Emsy." She replied.

"Go get 'em, Katiekins!" Cook told her, leaning in to give her a hug as well.

"Shouldn't you be rooting for Naomi?" Katie asked, smirking.

"Oh, I am." He laughed. "But it doesn't mean I can't root for you as well, now does it?"

Katie and Emily laughed at his logic. "Come on Cook, let's leave her and go find the adults."

They left Katie to head into the locker room. She passed by some of the other girls. Katie really was nervous about today, she just wasn't about to tell her sister that. Naomi was more than a good tennis player; she was one of the better ones on the tour. She had power, speed and she could literally crush Katie like a bug.

Once she had everything she needed, Katie headed out to the tunnel that led to the court where her and Naomi would compete.

"Are you ready for this?" Katie jumped at the voice behind her.

"Fucks sake, Naomi! Announce yourself." Katie said with irritation in her voice.

"Sorry, Katie. I thought you heard me coming." Naomi apologised. "Are you alright?"

Katie wasn't about to tell Naomi that she was weak. "Look Campbell, for the next forty to sixty minutes, you and I aren't friends, buddies or even acquaintances, yeah?"

Naomi smirked at the smaller girl. "I get it. Don't worry, I won't let you go down without a fight."

"Listen here, I don't need any help from you to win! Got it?" Katie stood toe to toe with the taller girl.

Naomi was impressed with the brunette. She managed to make herself almost intimidating, despite her small size. She held up her hands in surrender. "Whoa, calm down, Katie, I was just messing with ya."

Just then a staff member from the club came up to the girls.

"Are you ladies ready?" She asked, getting nods from both of them. "If you'll follow me."

The lady led Naomi and Katie through the entrance and out onto the court, where they took their seats. As they waited for the chair umpire and the line judges, both of them started getting their equipment ready.

Katie looked up toward the players' box. She saw her dad sitting with Naomi's mum, stepdad, Emily and Cook. When her sister looked down at her, she smiled and waved, bringing a smile to Katie's face. A few seconds later, a group of people walked onto the court, taking their places along the edges, followed by a very tall, exotic looking woman. Katie couldn't help herself; she shot a glance toward Emily, noticing the look her sister had on her face, which almost matched the look at Cook's face. The older twin could only shake her head at the two of them. Katie put her sister and Cook out of her mind and brought her attention to the chair judge, but not before she got a look at Naomi as well. The blonde was doing her very own impression of a cartoon character, the way her eyes were popping out of her head.

"Miss Fitch, are you listening?" Katie's head snapped toward the woman, who was clearly Italian, if her accent was anything to go by.

"Yeah, sorry. Yeah." Naomi chuckled at the smaller girl, drawing a scowl from the feisty Fitch.

"As I was saying, after your warm up, I'll explain the rules, we'll have a coin toss and then we'll begin." Both girls nodded.

Naomi and Katie went out and took their places on the court and started their warm up. Katie was the first to hit the ball over to Naomi. The taller girl was able to hit it back with ease. After a few minutes of warming up, the chair judge came over to the net, followed by the girls.

"Miss Campbell, since you are the highest ranked player today, you get to call it in the air." The chair umpire, whose name, the girls learned was Claudia Vairetti, said. She took a coin out of her pocket and flipped it into the air.

"Heads" Naomi said, just before it landed in the woman's hand.

"It is tails. Miss Fitch, it is your call. What would you like to do?"

"I'll serve." Katie knew she had an excellent shot of one upping the blonde if she could serve first.

Everyone went to their places and Katie stood at the baseline. With ball in hand, she bounced it a couple of times, trying to control the adrenaline coursing through her body.

'Come on Katie.' She thought to herself. 'Campbell's not that tough an opponent. You've defeated better.'

With her thoughts racing through her mind, she bounced the ball a final time and took her stance. Where Emily used the pinpoint stance, Katie was more comfortable with the platform stance. It cut the speed at which she served the ball, but she was able to stabilize her balance better. She looked toward the end of the court, noticing that Naomi was in a ready stance, so she brought the ball and her racquet out to the front of her. With one last deep breath, she raised her arm, letting the ball go at the apex of her toss and jumped as high as she could, bringing her racquet up to connect with it.

Naomi saw the ball coming at her, spurring her into action. Once the match had begun, both girls used all the strength and speed they had trying to best the other.

* * *

They were in between sets, taking their two minute break, both girls starting to feel fatigued. Naomi was shocked by the intensity that Katie played with. She sat in her chair, towel draped over her head, drinking water. She thought about all of Katie's moves in the second set. Naomi thought for sure that after winning the first set 6-4, that she would breeze through this one, but Katie battled back and kept her on the run, winning the set 3-6. Naomi took a moment to glance up to where Kieran and her mum were sitting. She saw the two of them talking with Rob, so she turned her gaze to Cook. Both he and Emily sat, talking animatedly and kept pointing over to her and Katie.

The blonde caught Emily's eyes and couldn't help but stare. She felt herself blush when Emily quickly smiled at her, so she smirked back and then dropped her head down.

"Time!" The umpire called out, causing both girls to stand up and switch sides. It was Naomi's serve, so she waited for Katie to take her place at the baseline. The ball girl tossed her a couple of balls, which Naomi inspected.

"Can I get new balls, please?" She asked the young girl and waited for a staff member to bring them out. After a minute of waiting, Naomi had fresh tennis balls and was ready to serve. She made sure that Katie had taken her position and she took up her serving stance.

The blonde tossed the ball high in the air and crushed it with her racquet, at an impressive speed of 118 mph.

"Ace!" The ball had sailed right past the older Fitch. "15-love." Naomi smiled as the ball girl tossed her another couple of balls. She got a kick out of making Katie scowl at her across the net. Actually, Naomi discovered that she was enjoying herself. The older Fitch was a very fierce opponent and the blonde liked that. She had only found one weakness with Katie, and that was her height, but she made up for it with determination.

Naomi hit the ball again, but this time Katie was prepared and hit cross court, making her run to get it. For about two minutes, both of the girls battled to be the dominate player. Naomi hit a slice over the net, but didn't expect Katie to be there to hit a drop shot, right net. With Naomi back at the baseline, there was really no chance of her getting to it time, but she jumped forward and gave it her all. The blonde ended up reaching too far forward, causing her balance to shift. She ended up sliding, facedown toward the net, as the ball bounced for the second time.

Naomi couldn't move at first, causing a gasp to erupt from the crowd. Even though they were playing on grass, the blonde still ended up hurting herself. It hadn't rained since last week, and it had been pretty warm, making the grass court semi-hard. Naomi cursed quietly as she laid there. She had hit her head on the court and she could feel something warm running down from her eyebrow.

"Miss Campbell, are you alright?" She heard from above her, so she rolled over and tested her arms, making her wince. _'Yup, that hurt!'_ She thought to herself as she reached up to feel above her eye and seeing red when she brought her hand back down to look at it.

"Fuck, Naomi!" She looked up and saw that Katie was now kneeling down by her. "You are not alright." Katie looked up at the official that was next to her. "She needs to see the medic!"

"No, I'm fine." Naomi told her. "I just need to clean this, and then I'll be good."

"Campbell, you have a gash above your eye the size of my thumb, you need to see the medic!" Katie argued, exaggerating a little bit.

"She's right, Miss Campbell. There will be a fifteen minute emergency break." Ms Vairetti stated.

Katie helped the blonde up and started walking her toward the tunnel that led to the locker room.

"We'll take it from here, Miss Fitch." A medic said, placing a cloth up to Naomi's eyebrow. "You can wait out here."

Katie turned and sat on the bench outside the locker room as her dad and Gina came rushing in from the seating area.

"Where'd they take her, love?" Her dad asked. Katie nodded to the door and watched her dad walk in there. Before he shut the door, she heard him announce himself. "I'm Rob Fitch, and I'm Miss Campbell's trainer." Katie didn't hear anything else after he shut them out. Gina stayed out there with her, but both of them were pretty quiet.

"She'll be fine, dear." Gina stated, as if Katie had asked.

"What?"

"Naomi. She'll be fine. She doesn't stay down for too long, it's not in her nature."

Katie chuckled at the older woman. "I get it, she's as stubborn as mule, yeah?"

Gina laughed at the smaller girl. "Something like that."

The two of them sat there for what seemed like hours, going over how the match had been so far, when another official came up to them.

"I'm sorry, Miss Fitch, but your presence is required at court side."

"For what?" Katie demanded. "The fifteen minutes aren't up yet."

"I understand that, but if Miss Campbell is not there, the match will be forfeit." He explained, watching as Katie and Gina exchanged looks.

"How much time is left?" Gina asked the young man.

"Seven minutes."

"Right then, Katie go on back out." Gina could see her about to protest. "Trust me. She'll play."

Katie stood up and started to follow the man, but she turned around to address Gina. "You tell Campbell that I don't need her help to win! I won't consider this a victory if she doesn't play!" Gina laughed at the girl's attitude.

"I'll tell her." Gina said and gestured for her to head out.

Inside the locker room, Naomi sat there as the medic cleaned up her eye.

"How are you doing, kid?" Rob asked her, as he felt her arms for possible breaks.

"I'm sore, but I'm okay." She said.

"Yeah, you took a pretty good fall." He replied with a grin. "We'll get you sorted. You need a couple of stitches, but you seem alright."

"She'll be ready in about five minutes." The medic explained.

Rob nodded. "Right! I'll just go let the official know." He left and met Gina outside the door.

"Well?"

"She'll be okay, just a couple of stitches, but she's good." Rob told her and the official that was waiting there. "She'll be ready in about five minutes."

"Very good. I'll inform the judges."

* * *

"What the fuck is taking so long?" Cook muttered, nervously. "She's been in there an awful long time!"

"I'm sure she's fine, Cook, it's only been a few minutes." Kieran said, but Emily could hear the concern in his voice as well.

"Dad will make sure she's okay. He's great at his job." Emily stated, with confidence.

"I'm aware of that lass, but Naomi's not the best patient, if you know what I mean." The Irishman explained, causing Cook to guffaw.

"That's a bloody understatement, Kieran!"

Emily chuckled at the two of them. "She can't be that bad, can she?"

"Give it time, Red! You'll find out soon enough." Cook gave her a pointed look, but turned his attention back to the court, when he noticed that Katie was walking back out. "So tell me... Is Katie seeing anyone?" He whispered to Emily.

"Does Cook have a crush on my sister?" Emily taunted in a sing song voice, zeroing in on the fact that he was blushing. "Oh my god, you do!"

"Shush!" He said quietly. "Keep it down, yeah?" He looked back at Katie.

"Sorry, it's just a bit weird." She told him.

"Why? She's fit as fuck!" Cook stated with a grin. "Surely she's got guys all over her."

"You'd think that, right?" Emily watched her sister, as she started to pace in front of her chair. "But, no. Katie's never had anyone just put themselves out there for her. She likes to say she's playing the field, but I think she just hasn't found anyone worth risking her heart for."

Cook was about to ask her more, but he noticed the umpire leaning down to talk to Katie. The older twin started to gesture wildly toward the locker room.

* * *

"No! They said she'd be out soon, so I'd rather wait."

"Miss Fitch, please understand that Miss Campbell has exceeded the allotted time." The Italian stated, in her accented English. "Unless she walks out of that tunnel within the next..." She looked at her watch, "fifty seconds, the match will be forfeit."

Katie threw up her hands, unable to argue with her any longer. She stormed back to her seat and sat down, placing her head in her hands.

Katie hated winning this way. She always had to endure talk about how she only advanced because of a forfeit; it seemed that no one took her seriously. She was about to start putting her equipment away when the crowd started cheering and applauding. Her head snapped up and she saw Naomi walking to her seat.

"I'm here." The blonde stated.

"Miss Campbell, are you cleared to play?"

"I'm here, aren't I?" She snapped back. "Let's get on with it, shall we?" Naomi looked at Katie and winked.

Katie took a good look at the taller girl. She had changed out of her grass and blood stained clothes and sported a white bandage over her eye.

Naomi caught her unasked question in her eyes and answered her in kind. Katie nodded and turned to walk to her side of the net and Naomi did the same.

"Play will resume with the score 15- all, in the third set. Miss Campbell, you may serve when you're ready." Ms Vairetti explained.

Naomi stood once again at the baseline, bouncing a ball, feeling her arms wince a little in protest. She took her stance and tossed the ball high. When her racquet connected with it, her arms protested against the jolt, causing her to put the ball into the net.

"Fault!"

_'Fuck!'_ She thought to herself._ 'That really hurts!'_ She took another ball out of her pocket and bounced it._ 'Come on, Naomi! Get yourself back in this!'_ She admonished herself, mentally. She took a deep breath and prepared herself for the pain that was sure to follow the serve.

Slowly she raised her arm, letting go of the ball. Once she hit it, she knew it was going over the net, so she jumped into action.

Katie returned the serve easily, coming in to mid court so she could be ready for whatever Naomi hit back at her.

For the next twenty minutes, the girls once again battled each other. They were locked in a tie break to determine the winner of the set, and therefore the match. Right at the moment, they were in the middle of a two minute break, both of them tired but neither one of them about to give in.

"Time!"

Naomi stood up and made her way past Katie. "Good luck." She told the smaller girl.

"Good luck to you too, yeah?" Naomi nodded and continued to her side of the court.

It took another ten minutes, but Naomi was finally able to wear out the older Fitch. Emily watched from the players' box and found herself extremely impressed.

She knew that Naomi was a tough player, just as she knew that Katie wouldn't go down easy, but to actually see it was...awesome!

"I think that's the best match I've ever seen!" Cook shouted as he jumped up and applauded. Emily looked over at the two girls again. "What'd ya say, Emilio? You wanna head down?"

"Sure, let's go!" Her eyes glinted with mischief. "I need to harass my sister anyway."

They went down and showed their passes to the staff members at the entrance. Once they made way into the building, Emily led Cook over to where the women's locker room was.

"I'll be just a minute."

"Do yer thing, Red. I'll be waiting." He replied, Emily grinning at him. "Don't take too long though, they might think I'm perving on you lovely ladies." He winked at her, making her laugh as she opened the door and walked in.

"Katie? Naomi?" Emily called out, hoping to find at least one of them. "Are you two in here?"

"Emily?" Katie answered exhaustion in her voice. She came around a wall that separated the showers from the rest of the locker room.

"Hey sis!" Emily came over to Katie and hugged her. "You did a great job!"

"I still lost though." The older twin pouted, not having the energy to be angry.

"Yeah, but do you realize that this has been the longest game you've ever played?" Emily held Katie's face in her hands, making her twin look her in the eye. "You've never fought this hard for a win before."

Katie caught her sister's excitement and couldn't help but feel the same. Emily was right; she had really given Campbell a run for her money. "Yeah, I guess you're right, but I still lost."

"Katie, that is so beyond the point I'm trying to make." Emily huffed, letting her go. "Don't you see? You already played better than you ever have before!"

"Yeah, yeah, I get that. It felt great actually." Katie walked over to the locker that held her stuff. She started getting dressed, thinking about what Emily was saying. "I didn't have to worry if mum was gonna be glaring at me from her seat."

"And how did that make you feel?" Katie thought about the question, pulling her trainers out and took a seat to put them on.

"It felt fantastic!" She admitted. "Does that make me a bad daughter?"

She looked at Emily, with a sad smile.

"No, it doesn't." Emily replied. She looked around the room. "Where's Naomi?"

"She's in with Dad and the medic."

"Again?" Emily frowned. "I thought she was okay?"

"Dad thinks she jarred her elbow when she fell, plus he's checking her stitches." Katie stood up and grabbed her bag. "I think it's nice that dad is helping her."

Emily looked at Katie with a smirk in her face. "It's his job now."

"What?"

"Cook told me that they both signed the contracts."

"When?" Katie asked, surprised by the information.

"I guess when we got back from our run this morning." Emily explained.

"I just didn't think she would is all. She seems...very, independent."

Emily shrugged. "Come on. Let's go see how she is."

Both girls headed over to a small room, where they could see their dad with the blonde through the window. Emily knocked on the door, but instead of the "Come in" they were expecting, they both heard the blonde shout out, "I said piss off, you bloody sadistic bastard!" The twins looked at each other, trying to hold back giggles but unable to.

Emily took a chance and stuck her head in the room. "I come in peace?" She declared questioningly. "I'm only here to see how you are, I promise!" She said with a smile. She took a good look at the blonde, noticing the bruise that had already started to form around her eyebrow and the ugly looking stitches.

"Sorry, I thought you were that evil medic." Naomi muttered, while Rob laughed at her.

"Now, Naomi, he was only trying to help, love." He told her, with a smile. "He doesn't actually get pleasure from causing you pain."

"Oh, really? Because I'm pretty sure I saw a little bit of depravity in his eyes as he was putting in the new stitches!" Naomi spat out.

"I'm sure you did, love." Rob placated her. "But he's gone now and you're fine, so you can go." He said, laughing while Emily and Katie giggled.

"Come on, Stretch, Cook's waiting for ya." Emily smiled at the blonde.

"Go on you guys. Go have a bit of fun." Rob told them, as he gathered up his stuff.

Naomi jumped down off the table, followed Emily out of the room and came face to face with Katie.

"Great match, Naomi." The brunette said quietly.

"Thanks. You played very well, yourself."

"So Emily told me that you and Cook signed the contracts today." Katie said, making conversation. She always found it hard to talk to most people, she knew she wasn't like Emily, so Katie decided she'd try a bit harder.

"Yeah. Cook and I talked about it and thought it'd be a sweet deal, ya know?" Naomi said, gathering up her bag. "Besides, your dad was right; Fitch Fitness is one if the best training facilities in the country, so that's a bonus." She explained, grinning at the twins.

Katie watched as Emily started laughing, and then Naomi joined in. The older twin felt out of place for some reason. She hated that feeling more than anything in the world, but she was usually able to hide it behind a wall of bitchiness that had the effect of keeping people at arm's length.

"Katie? Hello!" Katie shook her head to bring herself back to reality, to find Naomi and Emily watching her.

"What?" She snapped out defensively.

"Cook's waiting for us, so quit daydreaming and let's go!" Emily snapped back.

Naomi watched the exchange between them and noticed again how extremely different they were. Whereas, Emily was easy to talk to, Katie held herself back. Not really investing anything of herself, she seemed to hide behind a carefully constructed wall. Naomi could totally relate to that, to Katie in that aspect.

The three of them walked out of the locker room, Katie and Emily bickering with each other and Naomi following, highly amused.

Cook watched them all from where he was sitting. He couldn't help but notice the way Katie's hips swayed as she walked toward him. He caught Naomi's eye, as she smiled at him.

"Alright ladies?" Cook asked.

"Hello James." Katie said.

"Great game, Katie." He told her as he reach to give her a hug.

"Thank you."

"I have a proposition for you girls." He said smugly, earning the infamous Campbell eye roll from Naomi, a smirk from Emily and another blush from Katie.

"Cook, for one minute, can you keep your mind out of the gutter?" Naomi replied.

Cook scoffed. "Not that that wouldn't be a bad idea," he wiggled his eyebrows at her before he continued, "that's not what I meant. I'm talking about you, me and the very lovely Fitch twins heading to Portsmouth!" Naomi rolled her eyes again, grinning at a childish Cook, who continued to look between the three girls, trying to get them to say yes with his eyes.

"What do you say guys?" Naomi turned to the twins. "He'll only pester us until we say yes anyway." She laughed.

"Yeah, what the hell, right?" Emily agreed. "What about it Katie? None of us have a match until Wednesday, so we could head out now."

Katie just stood there, feeling closed in. She was conflicted about her feelings towards Naomi and Cook, but she didn't want to let her sister down. "Sure, sounds like fun." She said, trying to sound as excited as Emily, but by the look in Naomi's eyes as the blonde watched her, she could tell she failed.

The four of them made plans to meet at the hotel in an hour and then split up to go their own ways, with Katie and Emily going back into the locker room to find their dad, and Naomi and Cook going straight back to the hotel to get ready.

Katie had a feeling it was going to be very interesting over the next couple of days.

* * *

**And there we are! I really hope you guys are enjoying this still... let me know if you hate or love it or if I should have written about figure skating!**

**Marsupial**


	6. The Mighty Campbell and the Giant Slayer

**A/N: **** I meant to post this last night, but I was stuck in a car with my 15 year old nephew, who happens to be going through driver's training! And I am not saying he's a bad driver, but it is wintertime here in the Great Northern Michigan, so it can be a bit dodgy out there! So I ended up thanking every deity that we made it home in one piece;) **

**Wanna give massive shout outs to Miss Maraudeur, garden-nomes, GloryMorgan, jaybonesss23 for their little nuggets of Naomily goodness;) Also, to Crevette and Michelle1017 who always say the greatest things ever! **

**screamingXpixie- you are too awesome, my friend;)**

**nonsequitur1416- I hope this tides you over!**

**Any and all typos, grammatical errors...yeah, those are my fault and I apologize for them.**

**Disclaimer: Seriously? If I owned Skins or characters from Skins, do you honestly think I'd be here in the Mitten? Didn't think so!**

**Chapter 6: The Mighty Campbell and the Giant Slayer**

Naomi stood in the shower, getting ready for her match today. She scrubbed the sweat from her morning run off her body, taking care around her stitches. Since they met, she and Emily had taken to training together, along with Katie and Cook. After their time in Portsmouth a couple days ago, which had been a fucking blast, who knew Katie could be so much fun?, Naomi and Emily had been slowly fighting their way to the Finals.

Naomi was feeling a bit out of sorts about today, because she would have to face Emily. They had talked about it this morning, during their run. It started out as common friendly smack talk, but Naomi knew how badly they both wanted to win, and she grew quiet with worry. It didn't take long for Emily to cotton on to her silence and the reason for it.

"Naomi, what's going through your head?" The redhead asked, panting, as they stopped to rest. Naomi eyed her up, wondering how she had let this girl get past her guard well enough to know that something was bothering her. "Is the Mighty Campbell scared?" Emily said, in a sing song voice. Emily laughed at her own joke, until she saw Naomi's eyes.

"Oh my god, Naomi? Are you scared?" The blonde didn't drop her gaze fast enough, and Emily was able to see her fear. The smaller girl stood there, practically drilling holes in the side of Naomi's head, waiting for an answer. "Naomi!" She whined and pouted.

Naomi sighed, knowing that Emily wouldn't drop it. "Yes, I'm scared, but not for the reason you think."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Emily asked sceptically, folding her arms across her chest.

"Listen, it's gonna sound stupid, so... Can we just let it go?" Naomi had pleaded, but saw that Emily wasn't giving up. She sighed again, before walking over to sit on a nearby bench, with Emily following her. "I don't make friends easily, I never have." Naomi started. "Cook is really my only friend, but that's basically because you can't shake him once he starts hanging around." Emily giggled at that, Naomi couldn't help the smile that graced her face.

"What does this have to do with the match?"

"You and Katie are the first people, since Cook, that I've been comfortable around. Like, properly comfortable."

"And?"

"I'm not afraid of losing." the blonde stated, taking a chance and looked at Emily. "I'm afraid of winning." She finished quietly. "I know how much winning this tournament means to you, and I'm afraid that if I win and you don't, you won't wanna be my friend anymore."

Emily was so shocked by Naomi's admission, that she was rendered speechless. It was true that Emily wanted to win this match, and ultimately the final, but hearing this was unbelievable.

"That's one of the most fucked up things I've ever heard!" Emily snapped out, causing the blonde to flinch. "Naomi, why on earth would you think that?"

"Because I'm emotionally stunted? I don't know, it's just... It's happened before." Naomi admitted, almost sounding defeated.

"Wha...when?" Emily sat down closer to the blonde, careful not to touch her. She was actually starting to feel distressed at Naomi's confession. "Who hurt you?"

"It's not important who, Ems, but it happened along time ago. I don't have friends, because I'm slow to trust anyone. It took a year before I finally trusted Cook enough, for fucks sake!" Naomi felt herself getting worked up. She took a deep breath to calm down. "And I push people away to avoid anything like that happening again."

"Naomi, I promise you, that no matter what happens today, win or lose, I'll still be your friend." Emily said, looking intently at the blonde.

"Are you sure, because Katie was pretty pissed off at me the other day." Naomi hated that her voice sounded small and insecure.

Emily laughed at her, "Fuck, Naoms, she was pissed off at me during the the French Open, when _I_ beat her." Naomi's eyes went wide, and then the laughter came bubbling out. "That's just how Katie is! She blows up and then she's fine." Emily explained the inner workings of her sister. "Besides, wasn't that you and Katie ganging up on me when we went to Portsmouth?" Naomi laughed at the shared memory.

_The four of them had gotten into town around five, and checked into the hotel that Cook had booked. After they sorted out the room situation and got ready, they headed out to enjoy the sights and sounds. To Cook's dismay, the three girls wanted to go down to the Gunwharf Quays Shopping District, so the four of them spent a couple hours going from store to store. _

_Cook ended up as their pack mule, carrying their bags and grumbling the whole time. Finally Naomi put an end to their shopping stint, when she noticed that if Cook was loaded up with one more bag, he would have fallen over. Katie and Emily started to protest, because you know there's always one more store, but Naomi was firm. _

_Later that night, they ended up at a nightclub called Tiger Tiger, where they sat and drank, and basically got to know each other better. They had been dancing in a group, effectively keeping everyone else at a distance, when Cook, Naomi and Emily caught sight of a tall brunette, dancing by herself,completely unaware of the effect she was having on almost everyone around her. Katie couldn't help but snicker at the three of them. She elbowed Emily and Cook, and then snapped her fingers in front of Naomi's face to get her attention._

_"Are you twats finished?" Katie snapped out, a hint of humor lacing her voice._

_"C'mon Katiekins! You can't fault us for having a peek." Cook leaned in to whisper in her ear, causing a shiver to run through her. "Besides, it looks as if Lil' Red was enjoying the show." He said, quietly. _

_Katie laughed out loud at his words. "Emily doesn't do subtle very well, does she?" She asked loud enough for only him to hear. The small girl was so close, that he felt her breath hit his ear. He chuckled at her, shaking his head._

_Cook looked over at Emily. He could tell she was trying to hide herself, but why? He watched her and Naomi head back to their table, when Katie caught his attention._

_"What're you thinking 'bout?" She asked._

_"No one knows, do they?" He wondered out loud, turning to look at her. "Emily? No one knows?"_

_"Only me and her ex." Katie felt a bit wrong talking about this, but damn it, she was tired of holding it all in. "Emily won't come out to our family and she doesn't let anyone on the tour know." Katie explained._

_Cook looked a bit confused at her explanation. "But...wasn't she out with Mandy the other night? Like, on a date?"_

_Katie scrunched up her face at the thought of Mandy. "Fuck no! I invited her out with us, because she was eyeing up Emily! I didn't know she was a freak at the time." Cook laughed at that. "I thought, for a fraction of a second, that she'd be a good match for my sister."_

_"Okay, I get it now!" He said as he looked back at the other two girls. He saw a guy walk over and lean down to say something to the red head. He and Katie watched as she stood up, gave a quick glance back at Naomi and followed him out onto the floor. _

_Cook was about to say something, but Katie only shook her head. "Leave it, yeah? This is what she does!"_

_Cook shrugged and took Katie by the hand, leading her deeper into the crowd._

_Naomi watched as Emily danced with a couple of good looking guys, staving off little pangs of jealousy throughout the night. It had been awhile since the blonde had even felt that feeling, so she didn't recognise it at first. _

_She drank that feeling away, and when it popped back up later, when Emily danced with yet another tall dark and handsome stranger, she downed a couple more shots. By the time Katie found her leaning against the bar, downing another couple shots, she was feeling loose enough to let Katie drag her out on the dance floor again, where they met up with Cook leading Emily._

_After a couple more hours of dancing with the twins and Cook and a river of alcohol, Naomi drunkenly came to terms with the fact that Emily was completely off limits. Once she accepted that, she made the most of their time spent at the club, laughing, dancing and having a great time. She was even able to corner that sexy as fuck brunette from earlier in the loo. _

_Emily had found herself staring at some of the girls at the club and she was mortified to find herself staring way too hard at Naomi. Once she realised that she was doing it, she made a conscious effort to fit in, act normal. The last thing she wanted to do was alienate herself from Naomi and Cook. She kept it light and fun, dancing with a couple of random guys, earning a strange look from Katie in the process and always keeping Naomi with in eyesight because the blonde kept downing shot after shot. _

_She watched Naomi get up and head to the bathroom, and thought about following her, but for what? She wasn't comfortable enough to let the blonde in on her secret, she'd only known the other girl for a little over a day, for fucks sake! So she didn't follow the blonde, but she did dance with another stranger, and started drinking her weight in vodka, thinking to herself that it was better this way._

_A few hours later saw the four of them moving from that club to another that Cook had heard about. By the time they got back to their hotel, the Naomi and Emily were so out of it, that Cook and Katie had to basically pour them into bed. He had booked them a two room suite, complete with a lounge area. Once Katie got Emily into their room, Cook dragged Naomi to the one they were sharing._

_It was about eleven the next day before any of them stirred. Naomi and Katie were the first ones awake, as they came face to face in front of the bathroom._

_"Morning!" Katie was almost cheerful, causing Naomi to cringe. Unbeknownst to the brunette, Naomi was only a morning person under protest. Add in alcohol the night before and she became a real life version of the walking dead._

_"Ugh!" The blonde responded. _

_Katie laughed at her. "Why don't you go first? It looks as if you need it worse than I do." _

_"Thanks." Naomi croaked out as she entered the small room and shut the door. _

_Katie went into the lounge, and checked out the room service menu. She decided to get food here as soon as possible, because if the look of Naomi was anything to go by, they all were gonna need it. _

_Twenty minutes after she made the call, Naomi finally emerged from the bathroom. _

_"Feeling better?" Katie asked, looking up from the morning paper that had been delivered. _

_"Yeah. Thanks for that, by the way." Naomi responded, sitting at the table across from Katie, scratching at the bandage above her eye._

_"Stop that!" Katie admonished. " And it's no problem, really. I'm used to it." The older twin said. _

_Naomi was about to ask a question, when there was a sharp knock at the door. The blonde got up, went to the door and looked through the peep-hole. When she cracked the door a little, the young man on the other side announced himself._

_"Room service, ma'am." The blonde opened the door the rest of the way, watching the young man wheel in two carts of food. She was about to comment on that, when the smell of fresh coffee hit her nose. She was on the verge of embarrassing herself by drooling, so she went back to the table and sat down. _

_Katie stood up, signing the receipt for the food, making sure to add in a tip. "Thank you."_

_"Will there be anything else, ma'am?" _

_She shook her head. "No, I think that's it for now." _

_Naomi watched as Katie let the young man out of the room. When the brunette returned to the table, Naomi was pouring a cup of the steaming black liquid. She took a sip and sighed loudly._

_"Not that I'm ungrateful, but what's with the mountain of food?" _

_Katie laughed loudly, causing Naomi to wince. "Sorry." she said. "As for the food, you haven't really seen Emily eat."_

_Naomi and Katie sat there talking for about an hour before Cook finally got up, and it was another half hour before Emily pulled herself out of bed. She looked worse than Naomi did, and that was saying something. The blonde watched as the younger twin blindly made her way into the bathroom, heard the moaning about the harsh lighting, and "how is anyone supposed to see properly in here with it being so fucking bright!" , all said in that husky, stomach twisting morning voice. When they heard the shower start, Naomi let out the breath she didn't even know she was holding in._

_"Was that Emily?" Naomi said, straight faced, causing Katie and Cook to laugh until they had tears in their eyes._

_They waited for another twenty minutes, when the door finally opened to reveal Emily, wearing a robe, hair still wet and looking slightly better. She made her way to the table, still not saying a word to any of them. As Katie, Naomi and Cook watched, Emily poured herself a cup of coffee, grabbed a plate and piled it high with food. The red head was more than half way done with ploughing through the food, when she reached out and grabbed some more, filling her plate back up. This was the funniest thing Naomi had ever seen and couldn't help the giggles that were breaking through._

_This made Emily look up, guiltily looking around the table. "Yes?" _

_Naomi sat up a little straighter, taking a drink of her coffee. "Here's a tip for ya." She said to the younger twin, eyeing the food still on her plate. "When you see the table through all of that," she gestured wildly at the red head's plate, "you might wanna stop."_

_Emily blushed a bright red, as Katie and Naomi started laughing. It had turned into a day of Katie and Naomi teasing the younger twin. Emily started out getting upset with them, but Cook just told her go with the flow. _

_"C'mon lil' Red, don't tell me you're gonna let these two get under yer skin?" He grinned at her, handed her another cup of coffee and she laughed, because he was right._

_After they finished with their breakfast, they all got ready for the day._

_"So what's the plan? We can't stay another night, because the three of you have a match tomorrow." Katie asked, putting the finishing touch on her make-up. _

_"We could make our way back to Eastbourne doing an old fashion pub crawl!" Cook suggested, with his grin in place and his eyes lit up mischievously._

_"How about no, you dicksplash!" Naomi retorted. "Kieran's going to stroke out as it is because we've fucked off a whole day of training." _

_Emily, Katie and Cook looked at her, amused by her logic. _

_"Actually, Miss Know It All, Kieran isn't even there!" Katie said, causing the others to look at her._

_"What'd ya mean he isn't there?" This surprised Cook and Naomi, causing him to question the older twin. _

_"I heard him , Gina and my dad talking the other day before we left. Kieran went to Bristol to talk to JJ's mum about the contract." _

_"Oh. I wonder why he didn't say anything." Naomi said, more to herself than the rest of them. "He always lets us know when he's not gonna be at a match." Emily noticed that she sounded sad about it._

_"It'll be alright, Naoms, dad and your mum are gonna be there." Emily told her, hoping that would make her feel a little better. "It'll be fine."_

_"Yeah, you're right." The blonde said thoughtfully. "How about we take in the sights along the way back?" She suggested, and watched as the other three agreed._

_After they checked out and made their way through the city, they finally hopped onto the A27 and headed east toward Eastbourne. They stopped in Worthing, and went to the Cissbury Ring. _

_Emily and Naomi left the other two at the car and walked up to the top of the ring. They looked out over the patchwork fields and the sea, taking in the beauty of it all. _

_After they got back in the car, Cook dropped down and picked up the A259. They were able to drive along with fields, towns and buildings one side and the sea on the other. It was a pleasant drive, going through Shoreham by Sea, Brighton, Saltdean and Seaford. Emily suggested that they go to Beachy Head. _

_Once they arrived, Emily, Katie and Naomi practically ran as close as they could get to the edge of the cliff, and stared out at the water. The cliff is the highest chalk sea cliff in Britain, rising 162 metres above sea level, standing at the peak allowed them to see the south east coast from Dungeness in the east, to Selsey Bill in the west. _

_Cook and the girls spent the better part of two hours walking along the grassy cliff, laughing and joking, but their time was cut short when Gina called Naomi to remind them about their matches tomorrow, ending their little break._

"Listen Naomi," the red head pulled Naomi from her thoughts, "no matter what happens today, we're all kinda stuck with each other, yeah?"

"Yeah we are." Naomi replied, thinking about the year long contract that all of them signed. "Sorry."

"For what?"

"For being stupid and insecure. It's...," she was cut off by the small redhead.

"Naomi! Stop, okay?" Emily reached over and placed her arm around the blonde. "I'm right here, yeah? And after I kick your ass later, I'll still be here." Naomi snorted with laughter. "You doubt me?"

Naomi shook her head and raised her hands. "Not at all Fitch."

"I expect nothing less than hundred..no, a hundred and ten percent from you today!" Emily noticed that Naomi was holding back her laughter. "Come on, you! Lets get back, yeah?"

Naomi stood up, and then they took off running back to the hotel.

* * *

"Alright, I'm done!" Cook fell down where he stood. "No more!"

Katie walked over to where he lay, took her water bottle and poured it over him.

"Bloody hell! That feels good!" He smirked at her, reaching to grab her leg, but she backed away from him with a smile. "Hey! Get back here!"

"Now, now, James! You don't expect me to fall for that do you?" Katie laughed. Man it felt good to just let go and have fun. James had a way of making everything more fun."I know what you're thinking."

"Yeah? What's that?" His eyes twinkled with glee, as he sat up and wiped a hand through his hair.

"Come on, James. You have to practice." Katie told him, as he stared up at her. "You know that McClair is a tough opponent, and you need to be ready for him."

"Fuck that poncy bastard!" Cook spat out. "He's a total fucksplash."

"That may be, but he's the number three ranked fucksplash!" She countered, walking over to her bag to get another bottle of water. She handed it to him as she sat down next to him. "He's a technical player, so you'll have to be more on the ball."

Cook watched the brunette as she talked. He couldn't get over how beautiful she was. When she got all worked up, like she was at the moment, she glowed. She had these cute dimples, that came out when she smiled, and she had a lisp that did strange things to him. He smiled at her cute little rant.

"Go out with me?" He said to her, effectively stopping her from talking.

"What?" Katie was shocked and a bit scared.

"You heard me girl." Cook said with his crooked smile. "Go out with me, please?"

Katie couldn't help the smile that spread across her face.

"So is that a yes?" Cook asked hopefully, wagging his eyebrows and smiling.

Katie snorted at him. "Does it look like I'm easy?" She replied with a sneer. Cook felt himself deflate at being rejected so easily.

"It's okay if you don't want to." He replied so sadly that Katie mentally slapped herself. She put her hand on his arm as he started to get up.

"I was only kidding, James." She said. "I was trying to joke around with you. I obviously failed." She watched as his face lit up. This was new territory for Katie. She had never felt this way about anyone before, and she'd never had anyone try so hard to get her attention.

Katie was used to using her bitchy personality to get attention, she had to work for it, unlike Emily. Making friends and fitting in had always come naturally to the younger twin. Even when Katie tried to hold her back and keep Emily in her shadow, her sister still had a way of shining through.

When the Emily and her were younger, just starting out the Junior's tournament, Katie relished the fact that they were twins. It made her feel comfortable that they were the same, until Emily started to excel in the singles matches. It was then that Katie noticed they were different and she couldn't stand it.

Emily was the one with the best friend, well friends in general, while Katie had the tendency to drive other girls away with her actions and words. It wasn't until Emily came out to her, explaining about Hilary, the ubercunt, that Katie realised that it was more than okay to be different. That they shouldn't be the same in the first place, because they were two totally separate people, who happened to look alike.

"So is that a yes, then?" She was pulled out of her thoughts by Cook's excited voice.

Katie nodded. "Yes, I'll go out with you." He jumped up, howling with laughter. "On one condition!" She had to almost shout to be heard over him.

He looked down at her, suspiciously. "And what would that be?"

"You have to beat McClair!" She stated, determined that he was going to win. "After you win tomorrow, we'll go out."

"That's a bit harsh, in'nit?" He looked thoughtful. "I've only beaten him twice in the four times I've been up against him."

"Well, lets just call this incentive for you to make it three times." She replied with a smirk. She didn't want to tell him that win or lose, she still planned on going out with him. 'Lets see if he works for it!' She thought to herself. "Come on, lets go get ready. Emily and Naomi's match is in an hour."

They packed up their equipment and left the training court, heading for the hotel. Once they made their way into the building, they took the lift up to their floor.

"So, tomorrow night? You be ready about eight, and I'll be here to pick you up."

"You're pretty full of yourself, aren't you?" Katie laughed at his cockiness. "But, it's kind of hot, so I'll be ready at eight." She told him, as she swiped her keycard.

Cook smiled at her, then leaned down and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "I'll be ready to go in about twenty minutes."

He turned and walked to his own room, feeling better than he had in a long time.

* * *

Emily stood in the lift, on her way back up to her room. She had just left Gina and Kieran's room, which had at first seemed surreal, but ended up being beneficial.

_The older woman had gone over some of Emily's earlier matches, and made sure to point out where she could and should improve her game._

_The redhead took in everything that Gina had to say, because it was easier to hear from the older blonde than it ever had been from her mum. Jenna more or less yelled and shouted at her and Katie._

_"Can I ask you a question?" _

_"Of course you can, dear." Gina replied with a smile. _

_"Why are you helping me? Why aren't you going over this stuff with Naomi?" Emily asked, obviously a little confused._

_Gina chuckled at her, and then she pointed a look at the redhead. "Who says I haven't already? Where do you think she was yesterday?" Gina waited until Emily silently understood before continuing. "Besides, I'm your coach now as well. I want both of you to do as well as you can. Just because she's my daughter, doesn't mean I don't want you to win." She explained, with a sparkle in her eyes, which made Emily laugh. _

_"Thank you." Emily said quietly._

_"Can I ask you something?" Gina eyed the small girl. _

_"Yes."_

_"What do you think is your biggest deficit in this game?"_

_Emily was curious about the question, because nobody had ever asked it before. She actually had to think about it. She knew what her mum thought were her downfalls, but Emily had never really gave it a thought. _

_Gina waited patiently, watching the girl think about her answer, smiling the whole time as Emily's face reflected her thoughts._

_"My size." Emily stated, confident in her answer._

_"Wrong." Gina replied. The smile on Emily's face slipped away at the woman response. "It's your lack of confidence. You know that you're a great player, but you doubt your ability at key points during a match, and why? Because you shorter than the average player?" She said, still watching Emily's reaction. "Well, I say bollocks to that! So what if you're short? You're one of the most complete players I've ever seen, so we're going to work on your weakness. And that weakness is your lack of confidence."_

_Emily was blown away by the older woman's speech. _

_She was so touched by the warmth she felt from Gina's words, that she actually started to cry. The older woman wrapped Emily up in her embrace and let her cry._

Emily was brought out of her reverie by the ding of the lift, as the door opened onto her floor. As she stepped out, she ran into Cook.

"Alright, Red?" He asked as he reached out to steady her.

She was looking a little dazed. "Yeah, I'm good."

"You sure? You look like you've been crying." He was looking at her intensely. "What happened?"

She heard the concern in his voice and couldn't help from crying again.

"Come on." He said quietly, taking her in his arms and led her toward her room. When they reached her door, Cook lifted his hand and knocked. It didn't take long for the door to open, Katie standing there with a smirk, until she saw Emily, tears streaming down her face.

"What the fuck happened?" She almost growled out.

"I found her like this. I'm not sure what happened though." He explained to the older twin. "She looked as if she had been crying, but when I asked, the waterworks started again."

Katie gave him a small smile. "Thanks James. I've got her, yeah?" He grinned at her, and kissed Emily on the top of her head, then turned to go. "I'll see you in a little bit."

Katie brought her sister into their rooms, shutting the door and led her to the sofa. It took another fifteen minutes to get her to stop crying, and another ten to get Emily to explain why she was crying in the first place.

The older twin understood much better after Emily told her about her conversation with Naomi earlier this morning, and then about her talk with Gina, but when Cook showed concern in the hallway, it was just too much for the younger twin.

Both girls knew that their parents loved them, but Jenna had a way of talking down at them, and never to them, that made them never feel that love from their mum. Oh sure, their dad showed them all the time that he loved them, but a mother's love is different. So when the three new people in their life, showed them more caring than their own mother did, it made for a very emotional moment. But the time for emotions was over.

"Emily, you need to put your feelings away for now. You've got a match today against the Mighty Campbell and I expect you to do your very best." Katie stated, earning a laugh from Emily. After another hug, Emily thanked her sister and got in to the shower.

Thirty minutes later, they were on their way to the tennis club when they met up with Gina.

"All set, love?" The older woman asked, smile in place.

"Yes. I'm ready." Emily told her, grin on her face.

"Well then, lets go slay a giant!" Gina replied, earning laughs from both Emily and Katie.

* * *

Naomi sat in the locker room, headphones in her ears as she checked her bags to make sure she had everything. She was still a bit nervous, but her talk with Emily this morning really helped her frame of mind. She knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that if she didn't give at least hundred and ten percent, per request, Emily would be thoroughly angry. And the blonde did not want that!

Naomi was lost in her thoughts, and almost didn't hear the knock on the locker room door.

"Naomi?" She finally made out the Souse accent of Rob Fitch through the sound of Three Days Grace, that was blasting in her ears. She reached up and pulled the buds out, and focused her attention toward the door.

"In here! I'm decent." She replied, watching as the tall man came into the room. She smiled at him, as she noticed that he seemed embarrassed a little bit. "You're fine, Rob, I'm the only one in here." She saw his face relax.

"You ready, kid?" He sat down next to her on the bench, waiting for her answer.

"I think so." She replied, nervousness in her voice. Rob heard it, wondered about it, but didn't press the issue.

"You think so?" He asked, slowly. "I want you to be sure, love."

"I'm almost sure, does that count?" She asked with a cheeky smile on her face.

He laughed at that. She reminded him a bit of Katie, when his oldest daughter remembered to drop her guard long enough. "It almost counts." He told her, with a chuckle. "Don't worry about it and just play your best, yeah?"

She nodded and stood up. "Hey, don't worry about Emily. If she loses, she'll be fine. Trust me." He had placed a hand on her shoulder, making sure she was looking at him. "My Emsy's not a sore loser, yeah?" He explained with a smile of his own.

Naomi was shocked. It was almost as if he had read her mind. She wasn't quite sure how to respond to his statement, so she just shrugged her shoulders and nodded.

"Come on. Lets get out there and win!" His smile was back in full force, almost blinding Naomi on the spot. She laughed and grabbed one of her bags, while Rob grabbed the other one.

The two of them walked out of the room and made their way toward the court where Emily and Naomi would face off, meeting up with Emily and Gina halfway there.

"Are you ready for me, Naoms?" The redhead asked, in her husky voice, which caused a spasm in Naomi's stomach.

The blonde smiled back at the smaller girl. "As ready as I'll ever be, Ems." She said quietly, smirking as she saw a blush on the redheads face. It was just too easy to make the smaller girl blush, and Naomi found it extremely adorable.

"Alright girls." Rob stated, breaking them both out of their thoughts, and bringing their attention to him. "I want both of you out there, giving it your best."

"Yes, sir."

"Yes, dad."

Both girls replied at the same time, causing laughter to erupt from all of them.

"Good luck to you both." Gina called out as they made their way out to the court.

Naomi and Emily looked at each other, chuckled quietly and made their way to their chairs.

"Remember Naoms, no matter what, yeah?" Emily whispered into the blondes ear. "A hundred and ten percent!" The redhead look into the taller girls eyes, waiting for a response.

"110, got it." Naomi nodded, watching Emily smile.

As they readied themselves, the line judges all filed out and took their places along the edge of the court. Naomi was sitting past the judges chair and looked up as the same line judge from her and Katie's match came walking out.

Naomi could help the appreciation that ran through her head at the Italian's very sexy strut. She smiled to herself, and started to look away when she caught the look on Emily's face, as the redhead looked like she was also appreciating the Italian.

It was at that moment that Naomi twigged on to the fact that the younger Fitch was totally batting for her team.

* * *

**So? Liked it? Hated it? Please, for the love of all that is Naomily, let me know so I can make this better;)**

**Right! Up next, we actually get to the showdown between our favourite girls;) **

**Thanks for sticking with me.**

**Soupy**


	7. The Battle

**A/N:**** Hello all you lovely people! I hope you've all recovered from last week and I hope you'll accept my apologies for being late. I really meant to post this on Friday, honestly I did, but I got distracted by Assassin's Creed( I love being a pirate!) and my family got me a bodhrán drum, so I've been learning to play that. Let's just say I can now play "Whisky in the Jar" on it;) So, Guppy, I'm sorry:)**

**Also a quick huge thanks to garden-nomes for the name;) **

**Anyways, I hope everyone has a great and wonderful New Year'a eve, be safe if you're out and about:) any typos/grammatical errors are all on me! Yes, I freely admit that, because I'm owning that shit! :)**

**disclaimer: I don't own it! **

* * *

**Chapter 7: The Battle**

Naomi shook off the unexpected excitement that coursed through her when she realized Emily was gawking at the chair umpire. She turned her focus on to what the pretty Italian was saying to her and Emily.

Emily and Naomi had started practicing together, in addition to the training that they had been doing. Naomi found it exciting, because Emily always pushed her much harder than Cook ever did, and Emily had basically said the same thing about Katie. So they both knew, after a week of hitting the practice courts, how the other girl played. Naomi did not think for a minute that she was better than the redhead in any way. Emily had shattered that notion the first time they hit the court together.

The blonde was brought out of her reverie, when Emily called the coin toss. Both of the girls walked back to their chairs and grabbed their racquets and a towel, and then made their way to their end.

"Good luck." Emily smiled and said, causing Naomi to smile back.

"Good luck to you too, Red." Naomi smirked. She knew that Emily would be all business from now until the end of the match. Even during the warm up, the redhead was professional, which didn't really bother Naomi, in fact she found that it helped dispel her fears from earlier.

The blonde crouched down into her position, as she watched the redhead choose a couple of tennis balls. Once Emily was satisfied, she bounced the one in her hand a couple of times, then stepped into her serve stance. Naomi could feel her heart speed up with each second that went by. She knew that her adrenaline was starting to race through her body, as Emily tossed her ball high and followed through with her racquet. From the moment Naomi rushed forward to return Emily's serve, the two girls went from being friends and became the Mighty Campbell and the Giant Slayer.

* * *

45 minutes into the match found Kieran, Gina and Rob discussing what they wanted to work on with the girls.

"I'm telling ya, I'll get both your girls playing 200 percent better." The Irishman stated heatedly, while Gina laughed.

"How do you figure?" The Souse asked. "Jenna's been working with them since they were little, how could you improve them?" He was asking for an honest answer from his friend.

Kieran was about to answer, when Gina interrupted. "If I may, I believe I can answer that." Both of them looked at her, waited for her to explain.

Gina smiled at them both, and then turned to Katie, who was sitting with Cook.

"Katie, what's your biggest weakness on the court?" The older woman asked the startled brunette.

"Well...I'm not... I don't...," Katie stuttered and blushed under the scrutiny she was feeling all of a sudden. She took a moment and a deep breath before trying to answer. "I'd...have to say...my size."

Gina placed a hand on her shoulder to calm her down, smiled at her and turned back to Kieran and Rob.

"Both of them said the same thing." Gina replied, as if that explained everything. "If they weren't as concerned with their height, they'd be fearless."

Rob thought about what Gina had to say. "It makes sense, that does. Jenna saw their height as a deficit, practically drilled it into the girls heads, that they would never be good enough because of it." He explained, sadly. "So what do you suggest?" He asked, as he watch the action on the court.

"What they need is intense training, not with each other, but with other players who would be able to bring out their strengths, and make the girls forget that they're only 5'2." Gina told him, keeping an eye on her daughter and Emily. "See?" The older woman pointed out to Rob.

He followed her line of sight, until he too was watching his own daughter battle it out with Naomi. Both of them were very impressive players, each in their own way. He felt a bit bad about taking control of his daughters training away from Jenna, but the girls were miserable and had been for a while now.

He knew he'd have to talk to Katie and Emily about how they were feeling about the whole situation. He glanced down at Katie, and couldn't help the smile that appeared on his face, as he watched her with Cook. He hadn't seen her smile like that in a long time. Feeling a rush of fatherly pride, Rob turned his attention back to the match.

* * *

Emily was starting to get a bit tired, but that didn't mean she was ready to give up. They had playing for over an hour, and they were tied at a set apiece. Emily glanced over at Naomi and noticed that, she too looked tired. The blonde had her head down, as she rested her arms on her thighs, with the occasional swipe of her towel to dry her face.

They were one minute into a two minute break between sets. Emily knew this would be her hardest match yet, but she didn't realize how hard it would be.

The redhead thought back to this morning with Naomi. The blonde's fear was very real, but Emily was confident that she had calmed those fears. It was true that she wanted to win, but not at the cost of this new friendship. Emily didn't realize how lonely she had been for the past few years, until Naomi and Cook entered her life. Oh sure, she had Katie, and her relationship with her sister was great, but Naomi was different. Cook was like an older version of her brother, and was fun to be around, but again, Naomi was different. There was just something about the blonde that Emily couldn't quite pinpoint.

"Time!" Emily was brought back to reality with the umpire's call. She put down the water bottle she had in her hand, threw her towel over her shoulder and grabbed her racquet.

As Emily stood up, she glanced again at the blonde. She saw a look in the other girl's eyes that she couldn't decipher, but it was only there for a split second. Naomi smiled at her, as she too, stood and grabbed her own racquet. They each walked to their side of the court.

It was Naomi's serve, going into this third set. Emily watched the blonde prepare herself and then take up her stance. The redhead noticed how Naomi concentrated on her toss and swing, and was actually kinda mesmerised by the sheer beauty of the taller girl. Emily felt her stomach doing somersaults, something she had never felt before, not even with Hilary. She was so shocked at her sudden reaction, that she didn't even react to Naomi's serve, as it sailed right past her.

"Ace! 15- love!" The umpire called out. Emily stood there, dazed for a second and then looked to Naomi.

The blonde stared at her intently, as if questioning Emily. She could only shake her head at Naomi, not believing that she missed that return. She was angry with herself for letting her thoughts get to her during a match.

Once again, the girls got into place, and Emily pushed everything else out of her mind. Once Naomi hit the ball, Emily practically bounced to return it.

Emily was very determined on winning this game. Statistics show that it a heated match like this, whoever wins the first game of the deciding set, wins the match. The blonde and the redhead battled for twenty-five minutes. It was the longest set for both of them so far, but neither one wanted to lose.

45 minutes later, they were tied at four games each, as they switched sides. Emily took up her position, bounced the ball a couple of times. She tossed the ball high, but not high enough. When she followed through with her swing, the ball sailed into the net.

"Fault!" Emily sighed, as the call was made, but she took the other ball from her pocket and started over again. She knew that she would be reviewing this match for weeks to come, due to all the unforced errors she made. She cleared her mind of everything but the game.

She hit the next one over the net and watched as Naomi ran toward it. The blonde had no problem returning the serve, and Emily rushed to hit it back.

It didn't take Emily long to win the point, as she came up to the net, dropped a shot and watched as Naomi scrambled to hit it.

"15- love!"

"Yes!" Emily hissed out, giving a little hand pump, which caused Naomi to laugh at her end of the court. The redhead blushed a little bit at Naomi's laugh, but she put it out of her mind and got back to business.

For the next hour it was serve and volley, up the court and back at the baseline, as Emily and Naomi battled to become the victor. Both of them were tired, drenched in sweat and about ready to drop, but stubbornness was running rampant on the court. Neither one of them wanted to be the one going home.

It all came down to a tiebreak.

Twenty minutes later, after the longest game, set and match that either girl had ever played, Naomi was declared the winner. But she was oddly unhappy about it when she saw the look of disappointment on Emily's face, as the smaller girl gathered up her stuff and walked off the court. Naomi felt her stomach flutter at the thought of losing the other girl's friendship so soon, she thought Emily would be okay if she won, but obviously she wasn't.

The blonde grabbed her stuff and slowly made her way back to the locker rooms, dreading the cold indifference that would come from Emily. By the time she walked through the door and walked to where her locker was, she was literally feeling sick to her stomach and was about to just turn around to leave when she was gathered into a bone crushing hug.

"Oh my god Naomi! That was the best match I've ever played!" Emily sounded excited, which confused the blonde even further. "Congratulations!"

Naomi's reaction was slow. Slow enough that Emily pulled away from the taller girl, and noticed that she looked ill.

"Naoms, are you alright?" The redhead asked, concerned. Naomi shook her head and ran for the toilets.

She was beyond embarrassed at having tossed her cookies in front of Emily, but the surge of conflicting emotions that she was feeling was too much at that moment. Once she was done, she sat down next to the loo, and realized that Emily had been behind her the whole time, rubbing her back.

"What the hell was that?" Emily quietly demanded.

"You hugged me." Naomi said just as quietly.

Emily stared at the blonde as if she had grown another head. "You just upchucked because I hugged you?" She asked, sounding very offended. "Well, remind not to hug you in the future, yeah?" She said as she tried to get up, but she was held back by Naomi hand grabbing her.

"That's not what I meant." Naomi tried to explain, but Emily pulled her arm from the blonde's grasp.

"Emily!"

The smaller girl was almost to the door when Naomi called out to her. "What?"

"I didn't mean that how it sounded, I swear."

"Then how did you mean it?" Emily was actually shocked to find out that the thought of Naomi finding her repulsive hurt. It hurt like a fucking bitch, but Emily was good at covering up her true feelings. "Because it sounds as if you're disgusted with the thought of a girl touching you!" The redhead was on a roll, but the wind was sucked out of her sails when she looked at Naomi's face. "What?"

Naomi still wasn't saying anything, which only angered the redhead more.

"Fuck this! And fuck you Naomi!" the smaller girl shouted and stormed off, intending to leave before anything else was said that she might regret.

Emily's shouting had knocked Naomi out of her "I'm a moron" phase, so she scrambled to race out of the bathroom, to follow the redhead. She had longer legs, so she made it to the door of the locker room at the same time as Emily.

Using her hand to hold the door closed, she looked at the smaller girl. "You think I'm homophobic?" She asked, in disbelief. As she watched a range of emotions filter through Emily's eyes, Naomi couldn't help herself. She bellowed out a Cook-like laugh.

"What's so fucking funny, Campbell?"

Naomi couldn't stop laughing, especially when she saw the indignant look on Emily's face. Emily was getting madder with each second that passed. "I'm sorry! Really I am, but that's the funniest thing I've ever heard."

"What are you on about?"

"You! Thinking I'm a homophobic bastard!" Naomi started to calm down a bit. "I'm not."

Emily was having trouble understanding what exactly was going on. "You're not?" She asked, hating how small her voice sounded. "Then what the hell was all that back there?" She gestured toward the loo. "What was that, Naomi?"

Naomi dropped her head, embarrassed at the way she acted. "That was anxiety kicking in, that's what that was."

"Explain."

"After the match, you looked so disappointed as you left the court. I was afraid you were mad at me, even after our talk this morning."

"And?" Emily waited patiently.

"I told you this has happened before. I was expecting you to be angry, to never talk to me again and basically blank me from your life." Naomi took a breath. She walked away from Emily, over to a bench and sat down. "What I didn't expect was a ball of happiness, crushing me in a super grip Fitch hug!" She stated, folding her arms over her chest, looking like a small child.

Emily stood still by the door, trying to mentally digest this new info. All of a sudden, her anger flared back up. "So nothing I told you this morning stuck in that brain of yours?" She snorted in derision. "I think it may be time to stop bleaching your hair, because those chemicals are damaging your thought process."

"I'm sorry, the sudden emotional shift caused the peristaltic pyrotechnics. I'm usually fine, if I have time to process the mood changes, but I didn't have the opportunity to do that." Naomi explained sheepishly. She let that sink in, Emily looked deep in thought. "Why would you think I'm homophobic?"

Now it was Emily's turn to look embarrassed, thinking about _her_ reaction to Naomi's reaction. The redhead squirmed uncomfortably on the bench as Naomi waited for an answer.

"That's a long story." Emily replied sadly, hanging her head.

"Does that long story have anything to do with the fact that you're gay?" Emily's eyes flew up to meet Naomi's, a denial on the tip of her tongue, but she knew she'd never be able to lie to the blonde, so she swallowed the answer that she was so ready to give. "Emily?"

"Yes." Emily was on the verge of tears. Katie was the only one to know, well Katie and Hillary, but Emily had never told anyone else and she found that it was kinda hard to do so now. She found the thought of Naomi walking away from their friendship hard to take.

"Emily?" Naomi watched Emily battling her emotions as they crashed down around her. She saw the tears forming in the smaller girls eyes and felt the urgent need to stop them. She slid closer to Emily and wrapped her arms around her. "Please don't cry."

Naomi's words broke the dam on Emily's emotions, causing the redhead the cry harder. Her shoulders shook with each breath she took and the blonde could feel the front of her shirt starting to getting wet from the tears.

"I'm sorry. I don't know what's wrong with me! I usually hold it more together than this." Emily choked out between sobs.

"It's alright, Ems. You've obviously been keeping it in for too long." Naomi said, trying to sooth her friend. "Eventually holding back like that explodes at the wrong time, and not in the right way."

Emily pulled away from her, wiping the tears from her eyes. "Yeah, I know, but it's easier to keep it from everyone."

Naomi dropped her arms. "Does your family know?"

"Only Katie. She figured it out when we were younger."

"So your parents don't? How do you manage to keep it from them?" Immensely curious, Naomi asked her. "They've never noticed?"

"God no! My mum would kill me if she knew."

Naomi understood now, but another thought entered her mind. "What about your dad?"

"He doesn't know either, I think it would break his heart if he found out." Emily replied, sounding broken.

Naomi's head was reeling from everything that had transpired in the last half hour. She was about ready to say something, when Emily's voice drifted into her ears.

"I'm sorry, did you say something?" She asked.

"I said, I'll understand if you don't wanna be around me anymore." Her voice was so quiet, that Naomi had a hard time hearing her, Emily sounded defeated and small. Naomi didn't like it at all.

"Emily, you're gonna have to speak up, because it sounded like you just said..,"

"I said I'd understand if me being gay bothers you!" Emily said louder.

"Why... what makes...," Naomi was stuttering, so she took a breath before she completely embarrassed herself further. "You seriously don't have a clue, do you?"

Naomi watched the redhead stand up and start pacing. _'She is so wound up right now, she about ready to snap!'_ She thought to herself, trying gauge Emily's mood correctly.

"Ems, do you really not know about me?"

Emily's head whipped around so fast, it was a wonder it didn't do a 360 turn and fall off. "What about you?"

"Well, this is awkward." Naomi mumbled, getting up to stand by her friend. "Emily, haven't you heard the rumors?"

Emily shook her head, signaling the blonde to continue.

Naomi took a deep breath, letting it out slowly before she said anything to the younger twin. "I thought you knew."

"Knew what, Naomi? What am I supposed to know?" Emily pleaded with the blonde to just tell her.

"Ems, I'm gay." She told her. "I've been out since I was 15. Everyone on the tour knows it, my parents know it, you're dad knows it and I'm pretty sure Katie knows it." Naomi stated, gauging Emily's reaction. "I thought you knew it too."

"No, I didn't." Emily's voice came out huskier than usual, causing Naomi's stomach to flutter, but whether it was from nerves or something else, she couldn't be sure. "You said my dad knows? How did that happen?"

Naomi explained about the meeting with her parents and Emily's dad.

"Emily, I think your dad would be okay , you know, if you told him."

"I don't know Naomi. That's an awful big risk to take." The sadness had crept back into her voice. "I don't think I can take that chance, ya know?"

Naomi wanted to press the issue, but she knew it wasn't her place to. "C'mon!" She jumped up, startling the redhead. "Let's get changed and go." She said, smiling at Emily.

Emily smiled shyly back, stood up and headed for the showers, leaving Naomi standing there. The blonde didn't know what to do with all this new information, but she wasn't going to let it come between her and Emily.

* * *

"Where the hell are they?" Kieran grumbled, as he paced back and forth in the lobby. "It's been over a fecking hour!"

"Calm down, love." Gina soothed her husband, then she looked over to where Cook and Katie were sitting, talking quietly. "Katie, would you be a dear and go in and check on them?"

The brunette glanced at Cook, before standing up and heading toward the locker room. "Sure, Gina. I'll be right back."

Katie walked into the locker room just as Emily was coming out of the shower. The younger twin was wrapped in a big fluffy towel, hair still dripping and a far away look on her face. Katie smirked at her, knowing that look.

"Have fun in the shower with Campbell, did we?"

Emily's eyes snapped up to where her sister stood, her face as bright as her hair.

"Keep your voice down!" The redhead hissed. "Fucks sake, Kay!"

"What? Are you trying to tell me you haven't thought about it?" Katie snickered, but then suddenly stopped when she saw the look on Emily's face. "I'm sorry, Emsy."

Emily sighed and walked to the locker that held her stuff. She didn't bother with justifying herself, because Katie would draw her own conclusions, no matter what she said.

"I didn't mean anything by it, honestly Emily."

"Did you know she was gay?" Emily whispered to her sister.

"Yeah, I pretty much figured that out the day I played against her. Why? Didn't you know?"

Emily blushed and dropped her gaze.

"How could you not know? Don't you have, like a, locating microchip somewhere on your bodies, that allow for you lezzas to track each other?" Katie snorted, trying like hell to hold in her laughter.

"It's called gaydar, thank you very much." Naomi smirked at the twins, as they both shot up from the bench they were sitting on. "No, please don't get up. Carry on with your conversation, because I'm actually interested to hear Emily's answer." She said, eyebrow raised and looking pointedly at the twins.

"Can we just drop it and get dressed?" Emily pleaded with them.

"Actually, Emily, it is a good question." Katie said, with a small smile. She never got tired of ragging on her sister and relished every opportunity to do it. "How did you not notice that Campbell was, like, one of the gayest girls on the tour?"

"Hey!" Naomi's feigned indignation was comical to Katie, and the brunette laughed at her. "I'll have you know, I'm no where near the gayest!" She stated, causing further laughter from Katie and a small chuckle from Emily.

"Yeah? And who would that be?" Emily asked, deciding to join in with their teasing.

"Is Emily looking for a date?" Katie shot out, in a singsong voice, making Emily blush.

Naomi started to laugh, but a strange feeling was currently making her uncomfortable.

"Fuck off Katie!" The younger twin ducked her head and started pulling her stuff out of the locker. "What are you even doing in here?"

"Look bitch, I was sent in to get the both of you, yeah? Gina asked me to, so you should be grateful that it was me out here! Kieran was ready to storm in here and pull the both of you out!" Katie stated in a huff. "Jesus Emily, I was just messing with you."

"Alright, Katie, I think that's enough." Naomi stepped in, placing a hand on the brunettes shoulder. "Look, just go and tell them we're almost ready, okay?"

"Fine, whatever! Maybe you can deal with Miss fucking moody over there!" She replied, glancing briefly at her sister. Katie turned on her heel and marched out of the room, leaving Naomi and Emily standing there alone.

"What was that all about?" Naomi asked.

Emily sniffed, a clear indication that she was on the verge of crying again, but Naomi just waited.

"I'm sorry. She just gets to me sometimes."

"No, that's not what I meant." Naomi walked to her locker, next to Emily's, and reached in for her clothes. She took off the towel she had wrapped around her body, causing Emily to blush again. The redhead turned around so fast, that she lost her balance and knocked into the lockers.

"Are you alright?" Naomi turned around to see what had happened.

"I'm fine! Can we please just get dressed and go?"

Naomi nodded and turned back around to finish getting dressed. "Ems, you know you can talk to me about anything, right?"

"I know, but there's nothing to talk about." Emily insisted, as she pulled a pair of training pants on.

Naomi sighed, knowing that this was the end of the conversation, for now.

Twenty minutes later, both of them left the locker room to find everyone waiting for them.

"It's about fecking time!" Kieran snapped out.

Rob gathered Emily into a hug. "I'm sorry, love."

"It's alright, dad. If I had to lose to anyone, I'm glad it was Naomi."

"That's the spirit!" He flashed her a mega-watt smile. "So how does everyone feel about seafood? My treat!"

* * *

After dinner, Rob and the twins went back to his room. Katie and Emily had plans to meet up with Naomi and Cook later that evening, but they wanted time to rest before going out.

"Have a seat, girls." Rob said, shutting the door behind them. They both looked at each other, wondering if they had done something wrong. "Don't worry girls. You're not in any trouble." He assured them, noticing their worried faces.

"So what's going on then?" Katie asked, getting straight to the point.

"Well, I know a lot has changed in the last week and I want to see how you girls are handling it?" He sat down across from them, watching their reactions. "I know it's a bit off, what with not having your mum here, so I just wanted to make sure that you guys are okay."

Katie seemed a bit thoughtful, taking in her dads words, while Emily just sat there. It was a few minutes before either girl answered.

"So what's the plan now, dad?" Katie finally asked. "I mean, I'm okay with the new arrangement, but how is mum taking it?"

Rob took a deep breath. "To be honest, love, she wasn't too thrilled about this, but I explained to her that she has brought you two as far as she can."

"Why didn't she come with us?" Emily asked. "Why couldn't she come and support us?"

"You know how your mum is, love. She'll need a bit to calm down." He replied, sadness in his voice. "But I really want to know how you two are feeling about this new arrangement?" He asked again.

"I think it's great." Katie stated, glancing at Emily, seeing that she was nodding her agreement.

"Yeah, I think it'll be good for us." Emily stated. "I don't know about Katie, but I was getting kinda tired of getting put down all the time." She explained, looking sheepishly between Katie and their dad. "If we're being honest."

Rob laughed at his youngest daughter. "Right, love. We are being honest here." He stated, "so, with that in mind, is there anything you might want to tell me?" He gave her a pointed look.

Emily felt her stomach drop at his question and she sent a quick glance at Katie, thinking she might have said something to him, but Katie just sat there confused for a moment.

"Anything at all Emily. You can talk to me, love."

Rob knew his daughter's secret, had known for a long time, since she was still with Hillary. He had over heard them talking in the garage one day, not that he was shocked by the info, but he had been hurt that Emily felt she couldn't talk to him about it. When Emily and Hillary's relationship exploded, he knew. Emily had always been Rob's favorite, no matter how much he loved all his children, Emily had a certain softness about her while still carrying a strength that almost bordered on stubbornness , so he knew that the whatever had happened between the two girls was more than just a best friend fight. Emily had been sullen and depressed, even going so far as to blow up at her mum on a few occasions. He knew why she'd keep it a secret. Jenna would have a fit if she ever found out about Emily, he knew his wife's views on homosexuality very well, so he could only imagine what she's going to do when she finds out that one of her own children is gay. And if he has his way, Jenna will be finding out very soon.

"Emily?" Rob prodded her, hoping that she would open up to him.

"Nope, nothing at all." She replied shyly. "So are we done here? I'd really like to go lay down for a bit before meeting up with Naomi and Cook." Emily got up and quickly headed out of the room, leaving Rob and Katie looking at each other in confusion.

"Yeah, we're done." He answered, as Emily shut the door. "Why won't she talk to me?" He turned to Katie.

Katie didn't say anything for a few minutes. "She's scared, Dad. You know how it's been for us, she's afraid that she'll lose everything."

Rob found that what Katie said had hurt and he was a little bit anger at Jenna for her attitude toward certain things.

"I'm not your mum!" He snapped out, immediately feeling guilty when he saw the look on Katie's face. "Sorry, love, but you two need to know that. Your mother's beliefs are not my own, okay? I have never judged any of my children, and I will never judge them."

Katie thought over what her father had said. "I'm trying to get her to talk to you, but she's kinda stubborn about certain things."

"Is she alright?" Concern laced his voice.

"She's fine, Dad. I promise, she's okay."

"Well, I guess that'll have to do for now, won't it?" He stood up. "You go ahead and run along. I need to find your brother before he gets us kicked out of the hotel again."

Katie laughed as she got to her feet. She knew her father was concerned about Emily, and he had been hinting for awhile that he may know about his youngest daughter, but it wasn't Katie's place to tell him. It was Emily's and Katie felt it was about time she did it!

* * *

**So, um, yeah... Let me know what ya'll think!**

**Happy New Year's!**

**Soupy**


	8. This Cookie Don't Crumble

**A/N: Okay, so I'm very unhappy with this chapter:( it just doesn't seem to flow the right way, but I've already rewritten it a couple of times and I'm still unsatisfied with it:( so I apologize if this chapter goes off on its own, I tried really, really hard to reign it in:) **

**Anyways, I'm thinking this is the last chapter in Eastbourne and we'll be heading to London/Wimbledon! **

**Also, I would like to thank everyone for reading/reviewing/adding/favoriting this:) it truly means a lot, more than I can say, actually...so, yeah, thanks a whole bunch for sticking with this so far, and yes, soon there will be Naomily, so be patient;)**

**As always, any typos/grammatical errors are all mine:)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Skins, not even the DVD Box Collection:( I do however own almost all the Assassin's Creed video games, and that's the reason this chapter is late:)**

* * *

**Chapter 8: This Cookie don't Crumble**

Cook had run five miles before turning around, to head back to the hotel. He turned and looked at the three girls beside him, and smiled. To say he was shocked that one of them was still there, would be an understatement.

Katie hated to run with a passion. Cook had found this out a couple days after meeting the lovely Fitch twins, when he and the older twin started training together. But here she was, keeping up with him, step for step, and he couldn't help but to smile wider.

"What are you grinning at?" Naomi asked him, breathing heavily.

"Never you mind, Blondie!" He replied.

"It's kinda scary though, Cook." Emily piped up, from Naomi's other side. "You look as if you're in pain. Don't you know how to smile properly?" This statement caused Emily and Naomi to start laughing.

"Oi! That's enough outta you, lil' Red!" He chuckled at the pair of them. "I'll 'ave you know, I'm thinking about my match later."

Naomi and Emily didn't see the look that passed between Katie and Cook at his statement. Katie couldn't help but blush at the thought of going on a date with him.

"You know McClair's got it in for you, right?" Naomi said.

"Who's McClair?" Emily asked.

"He's a prick!" Naomi spat out, anger evident in her voice. "He thinks he's God's gift and all that."

"Whoa, tell me how you really feel, yeah?" Emily cheekily replied, earning a smile from the blonde.

The four of them saw the hotel up ahead. A cry of happiness came from Katie, and the others chuckled at her. "What?" She asked them.

"Katie, if you hate running so much, why did you come with us?" Naomi wondered out loud.

Katie felt her cheeks heat up, because the only reason she joined them was to spend time with Cook. She was unsure of how to answer and was looking for an acceptable lie, when he came to her rescue.

"I made her come along, didn't I?" He started to slow down when they were a couple blocks from the hotel. "I figured since we're a team, we should start acting like it."

The four of them stopped at the park down the street from their hotel. Naomi and Emily dropped to the ground and started stretching, while Katie sat on a nearby bench.

"Katiekins! You need to cool down." Cook informed her, and smirked when she grimaced. "We wouldn't want you to cramp up, yeah?"

"I am so sore!" Katie whined. "I don't wanna move."

He walked over to where she sat, bending down and grabbed her hands. "C'mon, up you pop!" He smiled at her. "If you don't do your cool down, you'll hurt yourself."

"Fuck James! Do you always have to be right?"

He didn't respond, just pulled her a little bit away from Naomi and Emily. When he picked a spot, he sat down and tugged on Katie's arm to bring her down as well.

The two of them started doing their own stretches in silence, until Katie felt the need to break it.

"Are you nervous about later?" She asked him.

"Not really. I'm more anxious than anything." He replied with a shrug.

"Why?" Katie questioned curiously. "I get the feeling you and Naomi don't like him very much."

"That's putting it mildly." Cook stated. "He's a poncy douche, who only cares about himself."

"It sounds as if you know from personal experience." Katie was dying to find out about this intense animosity, but she didn't want to come right out and ask. She waited to see if he was going to elaborate, but he remained silent.

They continued doing cool down exercises, when Naomi and Emily came over and sat down with them.

"Whatcha guys talking about?" Emily asked.

"James was telling me about Freddie."

Emily and Katie both saw a look pass between Naomi and Cook. They held each other's gaze, seemingly having an entire conversation in silence.

"Why don't you just tell them, Cook?" Naomi said, a mixture of frustration and amusement etched on her face. "They're gonna find out soon enough as it is."

"Tell us what?" Emily asked, feeling more confused as the seconds ticked by.

Cook looked at his best mate, his sister by choice, and didn't know what to do. He was dueling with himself, because he knew it was hard for Naomi to talk about, but the twins actually had a right to know.

He sighed as he made his decision. "Freddie and me used to be mates when I first joined the tour. Naoms and I started together, but as you know, most times our tour circuit doesn't coincide with yours. So when I was on my own, Freddie and I would travel together." He started, watching the expectation on two faces and the sadness on the third. "It was good for awhile, wasn't it? He was from Bristol as well, and when the three of us were home and not in training, we would hang out."

"Oh man, the things we used to do! It's a wonder we didn't get arrested!" Naomi laughed, then it turned into a bitter laugh. "Freddie was always on the edge of doing the right or wrong thing. But something happened that pushed him over that line."

"What?" Katie was mesmerized by their tale. "What happened?" She was getting antsy, wanting to know what went wrong. She looked over to her sister, to see if she was just as interested, but the look on her face was guarded.

"Go ahead, Cook. It's alright." Naomi said quietly.

"Are you sure?"he looked at her, uncertain about it. Cook was looking to see if she was telling the truth, if she was in fact, okay with talking about it. He must have found his answer, because he took a deep breath, scrubbed his hands through his hair and over his face, as if what he was about to say was painful.

"Freddie was a nice enough bloke when we first met. It felt almost like the same thing I had with Naoms, ya know? But, I noticed things about him the more we spent time together, and especially when Naomi would join us." He said, getting lost in his thoughts.

With a little prodding from Naomi, he continued. "Anyway, he used to make little remarks about how fit Naoms was, and how if he had a chance he'd shag her, shit like that." His face took on a look of complete anger. "Even after Blondie politely shot him down, he still kept making snide remarks an' shit. It got even worse when Naomi finally told him she was gay."

"It got to be too much for me to handle, Freddie wouldn't let it go and Cook was on the verge of losing his temper." Naomi looked as if she was in pain. "I had met this girl on the tour. She was...unusual and sexy. We started spending a lot of time together, just...hanging out. I should have known something was up, because she would never come home with me or go out with us, but I overlooked it because she said she just wanted to spend time with me."

Emily felt something twist in her stomach as she watched Naomi. She didn't like the direction this story was heading, but she stayed quiet and placed her hand on her friend's shoulder, offering her some sort of comfort. The blonde looked up and smiled a small smile.

"So what happened?" Katie asked them. Naomi let out a small laugh at the obvious interest in her voice. The blonde couldn't get over the childlike curiosity the older twin was displaying.

"Calm your tits, Katiekins!" Naomi laughed at the her. "I'm sure Cookie's getting to that, yeah?"

Cook and Emily joined in the laughter, which caused a blush to rise on Katie's face.

"Like Naoms said, she didn't hang out as much with me and Freds, which I thought was for the best at the time." Cook told the twins. "What Naomi didn't know, was that her mystery girl was also dating Freddie, and at Freddie's urging, she got super close to Naomi."

"She didn't?" Emily left the question hanging, because the thought of what might have happened was horrible to the red head.

"Oh, she did, lil' Red!" Cook confirmed Emily's thoughts. "Their whole plan was to make Naomi willing to do anything for her. The "whatever" that her and Freddie had planned was a little girl on girl action, with a side of Freddie! "

"Fuck!" Katie hissed, quietly. "Who was this girl?"

Naomi looked at Katie and shook her head, and then got up and started making her way toward the hotel.

Emily scrambled up after the blonde, but turned around and looked at her sister. "Do you always have to be so fucking nosy? Why couldn't you just leave it alone?" Katie watched, dumbstruck, as her sister chased after Naomi.

"I'm sorry, James." Katie turned back to look at Cook, guilt all over her face. "I didn't mean to upset her." She felt like shit, which was a new feeling for her, but Naomi had slowly become a friend over the past few days. "I should go and apologise."

"Naw, let her calm down a bit. Besides, I think Red can comfort her better than you can at the moment, yeah?" Cook grinned at her, trying to get her to smile.

It seemed to have worked, because Katie flashed a smile at him that brightened up his world in that moment. He had to shake his head to dispel the thoughts that started running through his brain.

Cook had always been a bit of a player where women were concerned, it was a side effect of getting hurt and used by Abigail, but something about Katie Fitch pulled at him, made him want to cherish her and protect her. That's why he told her and Emily about Freddie, so that the would know what kind of prick they would be dealing with, if they ever crossed paths. Which would be never, if Cook had anything to do about it.

"So what happened? To this mystery girl?"

"C'mon, Katiekins! I have a match to win this afternoon." He stood up, avoiding her question and once again grabbed her hand. "Let's go back and relax until then, yeah?"

"Yeah, alright." Katie understood that it was a touchy subject, so she let it go. They started walking the same path that Naomi and Emily took. "I really am sorry." Katie said again.

"I know ya are, Katie. It just brings back a bad time for her, that's all." Cook explained. "You'll see, she'll be back to her cheerful self in no time, don't you worry."

Katie could only hope that he was right. Because the look Emily gave her for upsetting Naomi, was not a look she wanted to ever get again!

Cook didn't have time to worry much about the blonde. After him and Katie got back to the hotel, they had decided to get a quick bite to eat.

They were met in the dining room by Gina, along with a very enthusiastic young girl.

"Oh, James! There you are. I've been all over this hotel looking for you and Naomi. Where is she?" Gina asked, slightly out of breath. "Where were have you guys been all morning?"

"Slow down, Gina!" Cook put his arm around her shoulders. "We've been out training."

The older woman looked at him, and then over to Katie trying see if he was telling the truth. She nodded after a few minutes. "Alright then. Where is that daughter of mine?"

"Ah, she's probably up her room. She got a bit upset, she did." Cook explained.

"Is she alright?"

"She sure is, Gina. You know Naoms! She'll be tip top before you know it!" He told her with a grin.

"Right." Gina replied. "Anyway, I want you two to meet Pandora." She turned around to beckon the ditzy looking blonde over. "Pandora, this is James Cook and Katie Fitch. Kids, this is Pandora Moon."

"Panda! How have ya been,girl?" Cook asked her, wrapping his arms around her, giving her one of his "Cookie" hugs. "I haven't seen you since Melbourne!"

"Cookie! It's so good to see you!" She exclaimed. "I sat out the French open, because my ankle was acting up and my mum went a bit loopy about it." She explained, looking around him at Katie. "Whizzer! It's a pleasure to meet ya! You can call me Panda!" The blonde stated, rather loudly, grasping onto Katie's hand and pumping it up and down, enthusiastically. "I watched you and your sister play against the Williams' sisters at the Australian Open! It was bonkers! I loved it!"

Katie blushed at the onslaught of Bristol Dynamo in front of her. "Um, thanks?" Katie pulled her back, resisting the temptation to wipe it off on her shorts. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Panda smiled at the older twin and Cook. She was a mass of nervous energy. The girl exuded an overly bubbly personality, causing Katie to chuckle at her. She was like a walking billboard for the rainbow, with her colorful outfit.

"Pandora is our final team member." Gina answered their unasked question. "I wasn't aware that you two knew each other, though."

"Yeah, she's friends with Naomi." Cook told her, as Panda nodded her agreement.

"Lovely. That's going to make the transition easier all around."

"Yeah! It's gonna be blooming brill!" Panda said. "My mum didn't really wanna let me sign, she thinks I'll spend all my time chasing after boys. She goes a bit rah-rah at times!"

"That's lovely, dear."Gina interjected, before Panda could gear up to go again. The older woman turned and looked back at Cook and Katie. "What are you two doing right now?"

"Cook and I were just about to grab some food. Would you like to join us?" She asked them.

"Thank you dear, but I can't. I have to meet Kieran and your father." Gina said.

"That'd be whizzer! I'm blinking starving!" Panda cried out, with a smile on her face. "You don't mind do ya?"

Cook and Katie looked at each other, before turning back to her. "Naw, we don't mind Pandapops!" Cook grinned at her. "We'll keep an eye her, Gina, you go on and go."

"Pandora, I'll meet you in about an hour, alright, love?" Panda nodded cheerfully, and followed Cook and Katie as they made their way into the dining room.

The three of them made their way through the lunch buffet, talking and allowing the two girls to get to know each other. It was two hours later that Cook found himself walking Katie to her room, after leaving Panda with Gina once again.

"Well, this is me." Katie felt awkward. She didn't know how to handle these feelings, it was strange the way Cook would look at her and the way she reacted to how she felt. If this had been any other guy, she would've shagged him already and moved on. But Cook wasn't just any other guy, was he?

Katie couldn't get over the walking contradiction that was James Cook. First impressions can be deceiving and wrong. On the surface, Cook presented a rough and hard exterior, but once you got past the Jack the Lad personality, he was sweet and funny and caring. Katie could honestly say she had never met anyone like him.

"You should get some rest before your match." She told him, quietly.

"Too right, Katiekins. Go on inside, and I'll see ya later, yeah?" Cook watched her walk into her room, leaving him standing in the hallway.

He knew he wouldn't be able to rest. He had three hours until his match, and he needed to find Naomi. He tried texting her, but didn't get a response. Katie had tried texting and calling Emily, but she didn't get a reply either.

He was worried about Naomi and no matter how hard he tried, he didn't think for one second that Katie believed he wasn't. He went to Naomi's room, using the keycard that Naomi gave.

"Naoms?" He hollered out, strolling into the room, only to find it empty. Just for the hell of it, he checked the bathroom, but that was empty as well. He stood in the middle of the room, wondering were else she could be, when his mobile went off. He checked it and almost passed out when he saw an incoming text from Naomi.

**im alright. with emily at the wish tower:) naomi**

He read the text, but doubted if she was being honest. He thought about his reply before he typed up.

**u sure? i want to see you before my match:( cook**

He waited about a minute before she texted him back.

**you will:) trust me im fine! naomi:)**

**ok. see you in a bit. cook**

Cook put his mobile away and headed into his own room. Now that he knew Naomi was okay, he could relax, so he headed to the shower to wash away the remains of this mornings' run. Now he could focus all his energy on stomping Freddie into the ground.

* * *

Naomi slid her phone back into her pocket.

"Everything alright?" Emily asked. They hadn't really talked about what had happened earlier, other than Emily apologising, profusely for her sister being a nosy twat.

Naomi sighed and hung her head a little, but then she looked up at the small redhead. "Yeah. It's fine, really it is, Ems." She stood at the bottom of the Wish Tower, looking out at the English Channel. "It's just, I'm able to forget how humiliated I was, ya know? Until it gets brought up, I can keep it in the past."

"I'm sorry." Emily apologised again, for the hundredth time.

"It wasn't you or Katie." Naomi huffed out a breath, before turning to look at her friend. "So please, quit apologising, yeah?"

"What exactly happened?" Emily asked.

Naomi looked back out at the water. Cook thought it was still too hard for her to talk about, but he was wrong. It had been a couple of years since the whole thing went down, and when it ever did get brought up, the only thing Naomi felt was a mixture of anger and indifference.

"Cook is under the impression that I was in love her." Naomi stated, which caused a feeling in Emily that she couldn't recognise.

"Were you in love with her?" She asked shyly.

Naomi scoffed at the thought. "I barely knew her!"She exclaimed, then started pacing in front of Emily. "She didn't want me to know her, did she? I had seen her around from time to time, but she didn't approach me until Freddie started his shit." She stopped going back and forth, to look at Emily. "That's what pisses me off more than anything. I feel like I should have seen it, I should have known something wasn't right."

"How could you have known, Naoms? Unless she came right out and said 'Hey, I'm shagging the biggest cockknocker in the world, do you wanna join us?', I don't see how you could've known." Naomi couldn't help but laugh at Emily's ranting.

"Look, I didn't say it was perfect reasoning." Naomi said through her giggles. "It's not right or wrong, it's just how it is."

"Is this who you were talking about the other day?" Emily asked, walking over to were the blonde stood and just watched her, waiting for her answer.

One of the things that Emily found fascinating about Naomi, was the fact that she wears her emotions on her sleeve. If she's angry, sad or happy, you can see it written all over her face. Emily could see at the moment, that she was trying to sort through her emotions.

"Yeah. I mean, the anxiety started back in college, but after what happened with her and Freddie, it's just...worse, I guess you could say." Naomi moved toward a bench, sitting down.

Emily followed her, sitting next to the blonde and just waited for her to continue. When it looked like Naomi wasn't going to, Emily decided to push her. "Do you still care about her at all?"

Naomi shook her head. "What she did was inexcusable!"

"Freddie didn't...did he..." Emily didn't know how to ask the question that was on her mind.

Naomi looked over at Emily and saw the blush spreading across her cheeks. She found it cute. Actually she found a lot of things about the smaller girl cute, adorable even, but she pushed those thoughts aside. She couldn't afford to think like that, especially about Emily. '_But why not?_' Her heart pleaded with her. '_She's fun to be with, you can talk to her and she's literally the most gorgeous girl you ever seen!_'

Naomi found herself being prodded by the redhead. Now it was her turn to blush, embarrassed at being caught lost in her head.

"Sorry."

"Good thoughts?" Emily asked, giggling at the blonde.

Naomi smiled. "Yeah, good thoughts. And no, I'm not telling you." She laughed, as Emily scrunched up her nose and stuck out her tongue at her. "Real mature, Ems!"

"That's me! Miss Maturity!" She stated, as if it were a matter of fact. "So answer my question then. Freddie?"

"No. He thought it'd be a good idea to let Cook in on his plan, which he probably regretted, and that put an end to it." She explained, feeling angry again. "Once Cook told me what Freddie was planning, I ended things with her immediately." She paused, to gather her thoughts. "She even lied and said she had no idea what I was talking about, but how could I believe her?"

"I can't believe someone would do that to you." The sadness in Emily's voice tugged at Naomi. "Why would anybody do that?"

Naomi shrugged, "Freddie was a fast riser up the ranks. He was the "Wonder Boy" of the tennis world, he got sponsorships, cars, he had girls draped all over him. That early success went to his head, ya know?" Naomi stopped again and Emily thought it might be too much for her.

"Naomi, you don't have to go on, you know. I understand that it's painful for you to talk about."

Naomi stood up suddenly, startling Emily. "But that's just the thing, Ems! It's not painful at all! I am so over that." She started pacing back and forth, in front of the red head. "She didn't really give me any time to learn to trust her."

Naomi stopped pacing and stared out at the sea, thinking. It was a few silent minutes later before she turned back to the red head. Emily had her head lowered, staring at her feet, so Naomi took the opportunity to really look at her.

The blonde thought about the first time she really laid eyes on the younger, was it really almost a week? It felt like she had known the smaller girl for much longer, it was almost unreal. Emily had slipped past her walls and started chipping through them from the inside. Naomi could practically see the all the cracks and holes.

"What's going through your head?" She asked, sitting back down next to the red head.

"Nothing." Emily responded quietly.

"Something is, so spit it out." Naomi smirked when Emily finally looked at her. When it was clear that Emily wasn't gonna answer, she nudge the smaller girl. "Come on, out with it!"

"I just can't help comparing myself to her." Emily was sad about the thought, but Naomi was outraged.

"Fuck if you think you're anything like her!" Naomi stated, heatedly. "You're kind, funny, talkative, you're a fuck load of fun to be around..." She trailed off when she saw Emily blushing at her words. "Um...yeah...you're nothing like her."

Emily couldn't help but laugh at her friend. "I'm sorry, I'm not laughing at you." She hurried to elaborate when she saw the blonde raise an eyebrow, then watched as Naomi winced in pain.

"I keep forgetting that!" She exclaimed, reaching up to scratch the healing wound.

"Oi! Don't do that! You'll pull the stitches out!" Emily told her, reaching up to pull the blonde's hand away from her head. The spark of electricity that Emily felt holding her hand scared her. _'No, no, no, no!_' Her brain screamed at her. '_She's you're friend, you twat!_' She felt herself blush again, as she slowly pulled her hand back. She avoided looking Naomi in the eye, as she got up. "We should probably get back, Cook's match is in a couple hours, so..."

Naomi was suddenly confused. She felt something when Emily grabbed her hand and held it, but that was forgotten by the look on Emily's face. "Ems, what's wrong?"

Emily only shook her head. "Nothing's wrong, we should just get back, that's all." She turned and started making her way back to the hotel, leaving Naomi still sitting at the Wish Tower, not understanding what just happened.

The blonde scrambled to catch up to the smaller girl. "Ems, wait!" She shouted, happy that the other girl slowed down at least. "What the fuck was that?" She asked the red head when she fell into step beside her.

"Nothing, okay! Can you just drop it?"

"Look, if I did something, tell me! Don't pretend that nothing's wrong!" Naomi stated, as she planted herself in front of Emily, effectively stopping her in her tracks.

"Naomi, you didn't do anything wrong, okay? It's not you, it's me." Naomi couldn't shake how defeated she sounded. "It's me, alright! It's always me." Emily said, tears starting to stream down her face.

Naomi went to give her friend a hug, but Emily pulled back. "Don't! Please?" The younger twin said, pleading in her voice. "Look, I'll be fine, just, let's forget it."

"Fine. If that's what you want, Emily, but I'm here for you, yeah?" Naomi told her, throwing her hands up, but then added, "If this is because of earlier, then trust me when I say you're nothing like her."

Emily didn't say anything for a few minutes, opting to contemplate her friend instead. "If I'm nothing like her, than what was she to you?" Emily finally broke the silence that had surrounded them. "If she wasn't funny and talkative and playful, then why did you hangout with her as long as you did?"

"It wasn't because she was an excellent conversationalist, that's for sure." Naomi scoffed at the thought, but she found that she didn't really want to tell Emily that she'd been known to sleep around, more than a little bit. She didn't want Emily to think bad of her. But the little red head was staring her down, waiting and silently demanding an answer. "You're gonna hate me if I tell you."

"Naomi, I don't think I have it in me to hate you! You've been nothing but great since we've met, why would you think that?" Emily asked.

"Because it's not pretty, Ems." Now it was Naomi's turn to sound defeated and she dropped her head in shame. "I've not been in a relationship since I was seventeen, but I find that I get a bit stressed during tournaments."

"And?" Emily asked, almost naively and Naomi could only stare at her in disbelief. "What?"

"Let's just say, I may have made the rounds. It helps ease the tension that comes with being in competition." Naomi stated, flatly.

"The rounds?"

Naomi laughed at her cluelessness. "I'm sorry Ems, I don't mean to laugh, but you're kinda adorable when you don't know what's going on!"

"Oh fuck off, Campbell!" Emily said, without any real anger, but still feeling kinda stupid. She wished she wasn't so naive sometimes. "So enlighten me, oh Wise and Mighty Campbell." Emily bowed low, with a flourish making Naomi laugh harder.

"It's not my fault that you've lived under a rock until now!" The blonde told her. "Let's just say I have intimate knowledge of some of the more...adventurous players on the tour."

Emily's jaw dropped and she could feel her face heat up again. Never in a million years would she sleep with someone on the tour. That's how rumors get started, and that's the one thing Emily can't afford to have floating around.

"Shit! Now you're disgusted with me." Naomi suddenly felt like the biggest slag on the the planet. "See, this is why I didn't wanna say anything!"

Emily shook herself out of her stupor. "No, that's not what...I'm not thinking that, I promise!" She was quick to clarify. "It's just...how do you deal with the talk?"

"I don't care what people say, Ems. I don't hide who I am, so..." Naomi trailed off, realising what she had just said, and watched as Emily's face became a picture of embarrassment and hurt. "Oh, Ems, I didn't mean that how it sounded! I'm such a tit!"

While the blonde was mentally chastising herself, Emily swallowed the tears that were threatening to fall. "No, you're right. I shouldn't care what people think, and for the most part I don't, but you don't know my mum, Naomi. She won't allow me to be gay, she doesn't allow me to be different from her, don't you see?" Emily started walking again, aware of the attention they were getting.

"Emily, I didn't mean to say that! I wasn't implying anything about you." Naomi walked next the smaller girl. "I've been out since I was a teenager, okay? My family made it easy for me to be who I am, but I'm not stupid. I know it's not that way for everyone."

"It's just easier this way."

Naomi knew she shouldn't meddle, but she couldn't help herself. "Easier for who? Because it doesn't seem to be easy on you, now does it?" She asked, knowing well enough that it wouldn't change anything. "Look, Ems, I'm not saying that you have to jump on a Pride float and sail down the rainbow river! I'm only saying that maybe if your dad knew, you wouldn't feel so...out of sorts, so to speak."

"I can't take that risk, Naomi." Emily stated. "It sounds great and all, but it's too much."

Naomi caught sight of the hotel up ahead, so she knew the conversation was over. "Just so you know, I'm here for you, yeah?" She made sure to catch Emily's eye. "For whatever you need, I'm here for you."

Emily shivered at the thought of what she might need from the blonde, but quickly berated herself for thinking it. "Um...yeah, I know...thanks for that, Naoms." They were walking into the hotel, when another thought went through the red head's mind. "Naoms?"

"Yeah?"

"Who was it?" She asked, but Naomi looked confused for a moment, a sure sign that their conversation from earlier was already forgotten, so Emily clarified. "The mystery girl? Who was it?"

Naomi thought she'd be able to get away with not saying anymore about the subject, but Emily was like one of those little terrier dogs, the kind that once they sunk their teeth into something they never let go!

"C'mon, Naomi, just tell me!" The smaller girl practically pleaded.

"Fine! Her name is Elizabeth Stonem."

* * *

"Alright Cook! Time to show me you've been paying attention to what I've been teaching you." Kieran stated, as he stood in front of the young man.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get it." Cook replied, with a grin.

"And don't forget to get your lazy arse up to the net!" The Irishman admonished. "We both know that McClair is gonna go after your weak points and that, boyo, is a major weak point for you!"

They were heading out to the court, where Cook would face Freddie McClair. Kieran wanted so badly for Cook to whip Freddie's scrawny arse, but they were evenly matched, so it was always a fifty-fifty shot as to who would win.

"Don't let him into your head, got it? Whatever happened with Naomi is in the past, so focus on the now."

"In the past, I got it. Jesus, Kieran! You're gonna have a stroke if you don't calm down." Cook told him. "Just head off to the player's box and let me get in my zone." He smirked at the older man.

"Fine, fine! Good luck then." Cook watched him head off, and thought about earlier.

He had finally drifted off for a short nap and had been asleep for about an hour, when Naomi came in and gently woke him up. She did everything she could to let him know that she was more than okay, it wasn't easy, but she made him believe it.

Then he had asked her where she went, so Naomi ended up telling him about her conversation with Emily. Cook felt bad for the younger Fitch, but told Naomi that there was nothing they could until she was ready come out, but be there for her.

They had started making their way to Devonshire and stopped to get Katie, Emily and Pandora on the way. They didn't walk over this time, opting to catch a taxi, so that Cook could get to the park in time.

So now he stood, waiting for a staff member to escort him out to the court, where he would meet up with Freddie McClair, douchebag of Bristol.

"Mr Cook?" A young man about his age asked, earning a quick nod from Cook. "If you'll follow me, this way." He said, gesturing the way and they headed out.

Halfway to the court, Freddie stepped next to Cook, with a sneer on his face.

"Cook." Freddie said, with a nod.

"McClair."

"How's Naoms doing these days? Still munching the muff?" Freddie smirked at Cook. This is what he did, knowing that it would throw Cook off his game, but Naomi sat him down, quickly before they left the hotel and explained that she was more humiliated by what Freddie did than hurt. She told Cook that she had never been in love with Effy, so it's not like she had a broken heart over the situation.

Freddie knew that Naomi was a touchy subject for Cook and he used that little weapon whenever he could.

"She's mint, mate." Cook replied calmly, not even bothering to look over at the tall, lanky fucksplash. He wasn't going to let him into his head. He had a lot riding on today's match, and fuck it if he wasn't gonna win. "How 'bout you worry about your backhand, yeah? Leave Naomi to me?"

Freddie laughed. "Sure, sure. Have you slipped it to her yet?"

"Fuck off McClair!" Cook growled at him.

Before Freddie could say anything else, they came to their seats on the court. The umpire was already out there, and soon the linesmen came out. The guys spent about ten minutes warming up, when the chair umpire made his way to the net.

"Gentlemen, I'd like a little decorum on the court today." The umpire informed them both, knowing for a fact how the two of them could be. David "The Dipper" MacGavin was a seasoned ITF chair umpire from Australia, who had seen his fair share of disputes between tennis players. And he was certainly no stranger to these two young men before him today. "I do _NOT_ want a repeat of the Valencia incident last year, do I make myself clear?"

Cook and Freddie both answered him at the same time. "Yes, sir."

Cook couldn't help but cringe at the mention of the Valencia Open. That was a particularly bad time, when it almost came to blows with Freddie during their match. They ended up finishing, but both Cook and Freddie had been fined for unsportsmanlike conduct and received no points for that tournament.

Cook zoned back into to what MacGavin was saying. He won the coin toss, opted to serve first and headed to his chair to grab a towel. He was quiet as he passed Freddie, knowing that a word would cause the other boy to use it against him.

Two hours later, and Cook was sitting in his chair at court side, with his towel draped over his head. They had just finished the second set of the match and Cook definitely felt the pressure. The first set was in Cook's favor all the way, winning it, 6-4, but the second set was all Freddie. Cook dropped it at 3-6, so now they were tied at a set all.

So far, each set had been about an hour long, so he knew he was in for a least another two hours of this match. Cook knew it wouldn't be easy defeating Freddie, but there was one thing he never did and that was give up! All those years ago, living with his drug addled mum and her ever changing line up of boyfriends, he could've just let go and either ended up just like her or he could've wound up dead at the hands of one of those losers. But he didn't and he never would.

"Time!" The call brought Cook out of his head and back to what he needed to do. He stood up, grabbing his water bottle and took one last drink before he took up his position again.

It was his serve, so he took up his stance and looked across the net at Freddie, making sure he was ready before bouncing the ball a couple of times before tossing it up as high as he could.

His serve was an astounding speed of 145 mph, and you could hear the ball make a loud thwacking sound as he connected with it. Cook was satisfied with it as he jumped to attention, keeping an eye on which way Freddie was going to return it.

Cook had already shocked the other boy earlier, when he took Kieran's advice and played at the net more. Freddie had been counting on Cook's refusal to do so to win. To say he was a bit disappointed when Cook was at the net for the first drop shot and returned it, was an understatement. Cook was doing a lot of things that Freddie wasn't counting on, and that was throwing him off.

The taller guy returned Cook's serve back down the centerline, which Cook anticipated, so he was already there, to send the ball back to Freddie.

Both of them were really working hard to come out the victor, one-upping the other every chance they got. It was getting heated the longer they played.

Cook won the point, and shouted out to show his pleasure. He sneered at Freddie across the net, and then took his place for the next serve. With a renewed sense of excitement, Cook tossed the ball and let it fly.

* * *

Naomi couldn't help but sneak little glances at Emily, as they sat with Katie and the very colorful Pandora. She couldn't get over the fact that Panda's mum actually let Panda sign the contract.

She had run into Panda more than a couple times on the tour, and whilst the blonde found her to be amusing at times, she was actually a really decent tennis player.

"Geez, Naomi! Cook's really trying to slaughter Fred." The bubbly blonde stated, her eyes glued to the action on the court. Oddly enough, Panda had been friends with both Naomi and Elizabeth, earlier on in their careers. That was until Stonem became too distant, and eventually the other girl cut all ties to Panda around the same time that Naomi broke things off with her. That left Panda more than a little bereft and uncharacteristically quiet, so Naomi took it upon herself to befriend the usually perky blonde.

"Yeah, he's even playing the net, which is unusual." Naomi replied.

"Why is that unusual?" Emily wondered.

"Cook hates to leave the baseline. He likes to rely on his strength and power, not on drop shots." Naomi explained to the other two girls.

Katie, Emily, Panda and Naomi were sitting in the player's box, watching the match. Rob, Kieran and Gina took off to meet with someone, so they told the girls that they would all meet up later.

"Why's he playing so hard then?" The younger twin asked. "Is it because of this morning?"

Naomi watched the intense scene before her, before dragging her attention to the girls. She was about to answer Emily's question when, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Katie's face turn slightly pink.

"Wait a minute!" Naomi exclaimed excitedly, causing the other three to look at her.

"Shush! You're gonna get Cook in trouble!" Katie whispered. The older twin was right, Naomi thought to herself. Any noise from the player's box could be considered off court coaching, and cause that player to be penalised and/or fined. The taller blonde looked around, guiltily, making sure Cook wouldn't get into trouble, before turning back to Katie.

"What do you know?" She whispered to the older twin, and sure enough, Katie blushed again. "C'mon, out with it, Fitch!"

Katie looked between Naomi, Emily and Pandora and almost laughed at the confused looks on their faces.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She mumbled.

"Bullshit! Why's Cook working so hard to win?" Naomi asked again, smirking at the smaller girl.

"I don't know why you think I would know..." Katie started to say, but was cut off.

"Save it Fitch! I can tell by the look on your face." Naomi smirked. "What's going on?"

Katie sighed, knowing that she'd never be able to get away with not telling them. She honestly didn't know why she was so hesitant to talk about it, but she wanted to figure out her feelings before anything else. It was clear though, that Emily and Naomi were not going to make it easy for her. "Fine!" Her annoyance was showing in her voice. "If you bitches must know, I told Cook I'd go out with him if he won." She explained, keeping her eyes on the court.

Emily glanced over at Naomi, and then looked back at her sister, seeing the faint pink on her face. The red head looked back at Naomi, confusion on her face and a question burning in her mind. The blonde seemed confused as well, so Emily took the opportunity. "Um, Katie?"

The older twin snapped her attention to Emily. "Yes?" She was readying herself for the teasing she was sure to come.

"Haven't you two already shagged?" Naomi took the thought right out of Emily's head and spoke up.

"I'm not a fucking slag, Naomi!" Katie spat out quietly, hurt that she would think that. Yeah, she'd slept around, but she didn't make it a habit of sleeping with everyone she came across. "I'm gonna go find dad." She said, standing up. As she walked past the other three girls, Naomi stood and followed her.

"Katie, that's not what I meant." The blonde said as they walked away from the court. "I would never think that."

"It's fine Naomi."

"But it's not fine, is it?" Naomi asked, seeing the hurt look on the other girl's face. "It's just...Cook has a reputation, and I was just shocked about the date, that's all."

Katie stopped walking and turned toward the blonde. "What kind of reputation?" She asked, a thought popping in her head suddenly. "Does he plan on fucking me around? Because if thinks that I'm..."

"No!" Naomi exclaimed, trying to calm her down. "Cook's not like that, I swear. Look, I can't go into detail, because it's not just my story to tell, but just trust me, yeah?"

Katie stood there, trying to determine if the other girl was sincere. "I'm sorry I snapped at you." The apology felt weird and foreign on her tongue, but after this morning, she felt she needed to. "And I'm sorry about earlier too."

"Don't worry about that. It's nothing to worry about, yeah?" Naomi said. "How about we go back and watch Freddie cry like a girl."

Katie laughed, causing Naomi to join her. "Okay."

* * *

Another two hours later, Cook was gulping from his water bottle as he sat, waiting for the last break to be over. He smiled to himself, thinking about where to take Katie tonight.

Cook and Freddie played harder than ever, tying the match at 2 sets apiece. They were in the final set, with Cook leading 5-4. 'One more game and that fucker's going down' Cook thought, keeping his laugh from coming out.

He chanced a quick glance over at Freddie, who looked exhausted beyond belief. There had been a time when Cook would've felt bad for playing so aggressively against the taller guy, but that time was long gone.

"Time!"

Cook watched as Freddie stood up slowly and grabbed his towel. As they passed each other, Freddie made sure he knocked into Cook. "It's not over yet, asshole." He told Cook.

Cook only shook his head as he saw MacGavin start to say something about Freddie's unsportsmanlike conduct. He wanted Freddie to go down, but not because he couldn't keep his mouth shut.

"We'll see about that, McClair. Good luck." Cook shot him a crooked grin, then made his way to the end of the court.  
He got into position and waited for Freddie to serve the ball.

McClair tossed the ball high and jumped to hit it. It sailed straight down the line heading right for Cook, but he quickly shifted to the side, and was able to send it back to Freddie.

Freddie tried to scurry to the back corner, by the baseline so he could hit a forehand volley, but he knew he wouldn't be able to, so he hit it backhand and watched as it sailed out of bounds.

"OUT!" The linesman shouted, causing Freddie to curse loudly.

"FUCK!"

"Mr McClair, this is a first warning. Don't make me tell you again, because you will be fined." Dipper stated from his chair. "Love-15, play will resume."

Cook chuckled as he walked back to the baseline. He was actually shocked that Freddie had restrained himself this long. One thing about Freddie was that he always let his temper get the best of him.

Freddie served again, this time sending the ball to the top corner of the court, Cook missing it barely.

"ACE!"

"Yes!"Freddie hissed loudly, as he pumped his fist in the air.

"15- all."

"Shit!" Cook swore quietly, under his breath so he wouldn't be heard. "C'mon, Cook! Remember what's at stake here!" He admonished himself. He got back into position and waited again for Freddie to serve the ball.

Cook jumped as soon as Freddie served the ball, sending it back crosscourt, as the taller guy rushed back to the baseline, sending a forehand return to Cook. For five minutes, the ball sailed back and forth over the net, as Freddie and Cook tried hard to win the point. Freddie sent the ball into a high lob, so Cook waited and watched as it was coming down and he noticed the it was going to drop close to the net, making him scramble to reach it before it fell. He got underneath it, and popped it lightly over the net, at an angle so that Freddie would have no chance to reach it in time.

It didn't stop the other boy from running and extending his racquet for it, but his momentum was too much and lost his balance and slid into the net, missing the ball altogether.

"15-30!"

Cook laughed at the look on Freddie's face. He didn't waste anytime getting back into position. Two more points and Freddie would be going home.

Freddie served the next ball and it was out. He shook his head and served again, only this time it went into the net.

"15-40!" MacGavin called out, cheers erupting from the crowd.

Cook looked up briefly towards the player's box where Naomi and the Fitch twins were seated, and caught the excited look on Katie's face as she leaned over to whisper something to Naomi. He gave her a wink and a smile, and then turned back to Freddie, who didn't miss the exchange. Cook glared at the other boy, after seeing his eyes twinkle and a smile appear on his face. He knew Freddie had seen Katie, but he refused to let it bother him right this moment.

Freddie looked down the court at Cook, gave him a look and positioned himself to serve. He knew a lot was riding on this one point. If Cook won it, that would mean he was going home and he did not want Cook to win.

McClair bounced the ball a few times, before tossing it high and bringing his racquet back and following through with his swing. The ball made a loud thwacking sound as it connected with the strings and sailed across the net, down the centerline.

Once again, Cook jumped into action, returning the serve with ease.

For five long minutes, Cook and Freddie ran the court, up to the net and along the baseline, neither one of them prepared to give up the point easily. Cook thought for sure that Freddie was gonna win this one, until he saw Freddie trip himself up. Although Freddie was able to regain his balance and avoided a fall, it was an opportunity for Cook to place the ball so that the other boy couldn't get to it in time.

Freddie was angry, as he watched the ball sail past him and land just inside the line.

"Game, set and match, James Cook!" Dipper MacGavin announced, as the crowd cheered loudly.

Naomi watched as Cook dropped to his knees following the call, then she watch him get up and walk to the net, where he waited for Freddie.

She turned to the other three girls, glancing at the older twin. "I hope you have a nice dress, Katie, because I'm pretty sure you're gonna wanna look extra good tonight." The blonde smirked as the the smaller girl blushed.

Naomi laughed at the girl, and then looked back at Cook. She saw that Freddie refused the handshake, but Cook just smiled and turned to the chair umpire. Freddie McClair was a sore loser, but that wasn't new information to Naomi.

But one thing was certain, Cook looked like a little kid, waking up Christmas morning and finding out he just got the best present ever!

* * *

**So sorry about the length, but once I got going it just wouldn't stop and I didn't wanna split it up. So, there you go:) **

**Anyways, apologies again for the lack of quality this chapter has:( reviews are appreciated and encouraged:) **

**Thanks, **

**Marsupial:)**


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